“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Oct. 20: Geostorm; The Snowman

Big picture: After a seemingly endless string of weather-related disasters, Geostorm couldn’t be timelier. When an elaborate system of satellites used to control the Earth’s weather go haywire, a planetwide “extreme weather alert” is issued. Enter the “geostorms.” This flick is every environmental action movie in one. Earthquakes. Check. Lava. Check. Tornadoes. Check. Hurricanes. Sure, why not? Tsunamis. You betcha. Blizzards? Totally. This is the kind of movie where landmark cities get wiped out in 30-second montages, and authority figures yell things like, “We have to shut the system down!”

Meanwhile, Snowman finds a troubled detective (Michael Fassbender) facing the ultimate cold case — a resurgent serial killer who kills with the snowfall, and likes to make macabre snowmen and snowwomen out of his victims. I’m betting on a twist ending. Audiences will learn this is, in fact, the sequel to the 1998 family drama, Jack Frost, about a dad (Michael Keaton) reborn as a snowman. Because you’d go crazy, too, if you came back from the dead as Frosty.

Forecast: Finally, a movie to help us get over our irrational fear of Sharknadoes. It can always be worse.

Norman Reedus in The Walking Dead. [AMC]

TV

Big events: The Walking Dead (Oct. 22, AMC); 1922 (Netflix, Oct. 20)

Big picture: Rick Grimes and company are back. And it’s payback time against Negan and the Saviors. Last year’s dark journey of failure is off-set by an action-packed season of comeuppance. The zombies better get out of the way or face being collateral damage. Meanwhile, 1922 is the adaptation of a Stephen King story about a farmer who conspires with his son to kill his wife. But some secrets don’t stay buried as his farmhouse rapidly turns into a house of horrors. This period horror drama is at least the third Stephen King adaptation this year. The King of Horror could write horror haiku on toilet paper and someone would pay him for it.

Forecast: The Walking Dead will end its season in a big reveal. The zombies are being controlled by the White Walkers’ Night King. Earth and Westeros are the same place. Rick will join the night’s watch and Daryl will be revealed as secret Targaryen.

Big picture: Vancouver’s Dan Bejar, better known as Destroyer, is back to simultaneously impress and depress you in the followup to 2015’s Poison Season. New tracks include, Tinseltown Swimming in Blood and Saw You at the Hospital. We’ve learned one thing, Dan may be one of our most talented indie artists, but never let him play your kids birthday part. Meanwhile, Margo Price’s sophomore effort is All American Made. Tracks include “Cocaine Cowboys”, Wild Women and Learning to Lose with Willie Nelson. You got to know when to hold ‘em and know when to fold ‘em.

Forecast: Destroyer has a gift for creating, but am I the only one who thinks this should have been a dark double album called Ken and Barbie?

There was a mermaid, a pageant queen and a woman who jumped out of a cake — but no one on The Bachelor Canada’s season premiere stood out quite like Dee from Kitchener, Ont. The self-described “princess tomboy” rode in a dirt bike, and rode off with a first impression rose after she and Bachelor Chris Leroux spent quality time snuggling and chatting. Of course, this puts an instant target on Dee’s back, so here’s hoping the spray-tan business owner lets Chris know she has a daughter at home before one of her undoubtedly jealous fellow bachelorettes does. Or am I just trying to stir up drama that really isn’t there yet? We’ll find out Wednesday (W Network).

She came in like a, well, you know

Miley Cyrus is no stranger to fender-benders. Her latest took place on the set of The Voice, where she backed her car into the sound trailer — and then drove off. She spilled the beans to host James Corden on Tuesday’s episode of Carpool Karaoke: “The most recent was a pretty good one. I was at The Voice set and I was the last one to leave, and I backed my car into the sound trailer. But I didn’t tell anyone; I just left. So I did a hit-and-run.” Last time we checked, that was illegal. Unless you’re Miley Cyrus, in which case you can just ask your manager to get you a rental car and a new parking spot — and downplay the whole ordeal to your co-workers. “I show up in my rental car, and then I go and tell (The Voice judges) Adam (Levine) and Blake (Shelton),” Cyrus said. “I’m like, ‘You’re not going to believe what I did last night. I totally f—ing wrecked The Voice sound trailer!’ But I was miked! So the sound people knew it was me. I told on myself, even though I went through all the craziness to not get busted.” Sheesh.

Dancing with the past

Monday night’s Most Memorable Year theme on Dancing With the Stars should have came with a Kleenex box. The stars and their pro partners performed routines inspired by their past — which proved to be an emotional experience. Before being eliminated, former NBA player Derek Fisher honoured his daughter, who was born with a rare form of eye cancer. And Vanessa Lachey — whose partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy returned for the sob-worthy occasion after rumours they weren’t getting along — opened up about her third child, who was born prematurely. Former Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz revealed he doesn’t have any memories at all, due to memory loss caused by concussions and mini-strokes he suffered as a race car driver. But you’ve got to love his half-full perspective: “I’m happy with my acting career, I’m happy the decision I made to drive race cars and to focus on music,” he told the cameras. “Even if I don’t remember it all, I’m happy.”

And while there might be some Paleolithic paintings somewhere of a Franco-cavelady with her animal pelts draped just so, one of the most groundbreaking expressions of French fashion is Christian Dior’s New Look esthetic of 1947.

The Collection, a miniseries airing Sundays under PBS’s Masterpiece banner, celebrates that era. With the Second World War a rapidly shrinking reflection in the country’s collective rear-view mirror, Paris is recovering from Nazi occupation and desperate to regain its status as the fashion capital of the world.

As they do in these types of sagas, the characters swirl in secrets and drama — but in The Collection they’re impeccably dressed while doing it. Costume designer Chattoune made sure of it. She tapped into the real-life fashion of the time for inspiration, logging hours at the fashion history museum Palais Galliera, but the goal was to evoke the era instead of outright copying it.

Richard Coyle as Paul in The Collection [PBS]

“First of all, we had to get rid of the idea of Dior, because of course New Look is attached to Dior. You know how fashion goes — you always have someone who does it better than the others or has stronger ideas. Basically the mood of it, the spirit of it, goes through all the designers at the same time. But I have to say Dior was definitely the best.”

A signature feature of the New Look era was fabric, and lots of it — in fact, some of Dior’s gowns demanded up to 40 meters worth. (Meanwhile, in post-war England, it was illegal to use more than three meters of fabric for a skirt.) Shoulders were girlish and rounded, skirts billowed insolently and waists seemed no wider than a croissant.

“We were just finishing the war and the restrictions of the war, especially on fabric. So because it’s Paris and fashion, they really wanted to be crazy about the amount of fabric,” says Chattoune, noting that designer Cristóbal Balenciaga was breaking ground with clean, sculptural lines in his own right.

“During the war, the women were dressed a bit manly. They had the trousers, the big broad shoulders, and designers wanted to get rid of all that. They wanted to go back to femininity.”

Over the eight-part miniseries, which was filmed in France, England and Wales, Chattoune and partner Fabien Esnard-Lascombe were pressed to create that feel of luxury (“l’opulence, as we say in France”) with a budget decidedly less haute couture and more prêt-à-porter. To wit, most costumes for the extras were rented.

Jenna Thiam as Nina in The Collection []

“The show, the time, the money — the whole thing makes it impossible to create clothing for everybody. But we did make for Helen two dresses. We custom-made all of Claude’s suits and we custom-made of course all the Claude designs. We custom-made about 40 or 50 pieces, which is a lot,” says Chattoune, who earned a César Award nomination for her work on the 2009 French film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky.

“I cannot say that we did it like haute couture, but really everything is handmade and very refined. We always know the best place to get the best fabric at the cheapest price. And I have to say, I have an amazing cutter and tailor. He can make our drawings come alive but also do it quick — time is money.”

Of all the looks in The Collection — Paul’s tailored power suits, Claude’s casual motorcycle gear, the models’ show-stopping gowns — Chattoune says few can translate the exactly same way today. It’s fashion fact.

“Not all of the pieces are timeless, to be honest. But every period has its timeless pieces,” she says, adding that fashion’s recent infatuation with the 1980s brazenly brought in elements from the 1940s.

“Whenever something is well cut and refined and beautiful, it goes over all periods. When it’s a good one, it’s a good one forever.”

The Collection airs Sundays on PBS.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/pbs-miniseries-the-collection-re-imagines-1940s-fashion/feed0The Collectionmhank2012Richard Coyle as Paul in The CollectionJenna Thiam as Nina in The CollectionRiverdale pop-up diners hit Canadahttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/riverdale-pop-up-diners-hit-canada
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/riverdale-pop-up-diners-hit-canada#respondThu, 12 Oct 2017 15:04:24 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765526]]>Pop-up diners set up like Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe in the teen drama Riverdale are landing in Canada.

Fans of the series, which is based on the Archie comic books, will get to choose from two milkshakes: the Betty (an old-fashioned vanilla) or the Veronica (a double chocolate), which are served in Pop’s cups.

The event kicks off Thursday, Oct. 12, and continues on Friday, Oct. 13, with free milkshakes for the first 200 guests.

The pop-up diners will hit eight different locations in six major cities. On Thursday, Oct. 12, it’s Mission, B.C., Calgary, Ottawa and Toronto. On Friday, they’re in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto.

Fans can find more information at popsdiner.ca.

Season 2 of Riverdale is now streaming on Netflix and airing on The CW.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/riverdale-pop-up-diners-hit-canada/feed0Riverdalemhank2012Silver Muse sets new direction for Silverseahttp://o.canada.com/travel/silver-muse-sets-new-direction-for-silversea
http://o.canada.com/travel/silver-muse-sets-new-direction-for-silversea#respondWed, 11 Oct 2017 22:11:33 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765521]]>I was in Quebec City a few weeks ago to hop aboard Silversea’s new Silver Muse for the day. The 596-guest luxury ship was making its inaugural call on Quebec before heading to Montreal at the end of her maiden transatlantic crossing — and prior to embarking a voyage through the Canadian Maritimes and down the eastern seaboard of the United States.

I last saw Silver Muse on her “shakedown cruise” — a short, post-delivery voyage from the shipyard in Genoa to Barcelona. Particularly when ships are first delivered, I always like to come back on board after a few months of operation to see what changes, if any, have been made. Boarding Silver Muse in Quebec for a few hours, I was happy to see that Silver Muse is sparkling.

Minor adjustments have been made throughout, from simplifying the dining dress code for the ship’s nine different dining venues (which all follow the recommended daily dress code; previously, each restaurant had its own independent dress requirements) to adding additional pieces of artwork around the ship.

Silver Muse ushered in an entirely new look and feel for Silversea. Gone is the dark colour palette that used to dominate the line’s interior decor, replaced instead with a fresh, modern look filled with hues of nautical blues and greens, coupled with blond woods that give the ship an elegant appeal.

This is perhaps best reflected in the decor for the ship’s Panorama Lounge: a sun-filled room with 180-degree wraparound windows located all the way aft on Deck 9. Bright and airy by day, this is the perfect place for a cocktail and some scenic cruising — especially when travelling up the St. Lawrence. I managed to enjoy a relaxing drink here before disembarking Silver Muse and getting caught in a wicked thunderstorm; Mother Nature’s way of saying I should have cruised on to Montreal.

On the accommodations front, Silver Muse hits a home run: suites (there are no such thing as staterooms on board a Silversea ship) are more spacious than those aboard previous vessels, with an entry-level room starting at 334 square feet (31 square metres), complete with walk-in closet, marble-clad bathroom, a sitting area, and a luxurious bed draped with Pratesi linens.

Silver Muse will be getting a sister in a few years. Silversea recently announced that a new ship, Silver Moon, will join its fleet in 2020. The line also just revealed that it will put the 296-guest Silver Wind and her larger fleetmate, Silver Whisper, through a refurbishment program this winter that will “Muse-ize” these two popular ships, adding decor touches that better reflect the new interior design that Silversea debuted aboard Silver Muse.

Finally, Silversea just announced a massive refit project is coming next year for the popular 540-guest Silver Spirit. I have a soft spot for this ship, with was launched in 2009. She’s a great blend of both past-and-present Silversea, with comfortable public areas, loads of open deck space, and spacious suites.

Now, Silversea is going to be adding even more of those features by lengthening the Silver Spirit next spring.

Here’s how this works: At the Fincantieri yard in Palermo, Silver Spirit will be cut in half (literally) and a new, prefabricated 49-foot-long (14.9-metre) midsection will be inserted and welded together. It’s been done a handful of times before (longtime cruisers will remember the “stretched” Norwegian Dream and Norwegian Wind in the late 1990s), but the process will be a first for Silversea.

Contained in this new midsection are six brand new Silver Suites (my personal favourite for their ridiculous level of spaciousness), along with 26 Veranda Suites and two Panorama Suites. The Silver Spirit will also undergo a host of behind-the-scenes technical improvements, and her decor will be redesigned to better reflect the style debuted aboard Silver Muse.

Back in Quebec, I was pleased to see Silver Muse in actual operation. The brand-new Arts Café was full of guests relaxing over a book and a cup of coffee, and I finally saw a guest take advantage of Silversea’s All-Around Dining, which allows you to call from any house phone on the ship and have food delivered to your exact location.

That’s luxury.

Happy cruising.

Portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-410-4744, www.cruise.center, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/silver-muse-sets-new-direction-for-silversea/feed0ftdc_silversea_silvermuse_SilverNote-0088.jpgaaronpsaundersThe Bachelor Canada’s Chris Leroux learns to open uphttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/the-bachelor-canadas-chris-leroux-learns-to-open-up
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/the-bachelor-canadas-chris-leroux-learns-to-open-up#respondWed, 11 Oct 2017 16:43:22 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765512]]>Chris Leroux is ready to settle down — and he doesn’t want to do it alone.

After six seasons as a Major League Baseball pitcher, Montreal-born Leroux, 33, is on the hunt for a home close to his parents in Mississauga, Ont., where he looks forward to doing “normal” stuff like camping, going to the cottage, getting married and starting a family.

Enter The Bachelor Canada. Starting Wednesday, Leroux will begin his love journey on our home and native land’s version of the popular U.S. franchise. Will he find a wife among the 20 beautiful women he meets on the season premiere? He’s not telling. But here’s what he did reveal during a recent phone chat with Postmedia:

Q: Why did you ultimately decide to retire from baseball?

A: My last season in Buffalo I was pretty good and I never got an opportunity in Toronto. I think with my age and the writing on the wall. Basically, ‘you’re too old, you’re not what we want.’ I was just tired of that. I was just like, I’ll give real life a try for a minute.

Q: What sort of vision do you have for your family?

A: I’m a pretty normal guy. I want a couple of kids that have respect for their elders. I want a wife who loves me for me and I want to love her for her and all of that stuff. When that comes, that’s a good question. But that’s what I’m looking for.

Q: Why do you think you haven’t been successful up until this point?

A: I don’t want to say I haven’t been successful. People think I’m helpless when it comes to (love). I think it’s mostly about timing with me. I’ve been so consumed by baseball and by making money that I almost forgot about the most important things in life. So it’s good that baseball is on the back burner right now and I can focus on my relationships with people. That’s what’s most important for me right now. It’s not about finding a job, it’s not about making money, it’s about having good relationships with people that I love.

The Bachelor Canada [W Network/Corus]

Q: What are you looking for in a wife?

A: When it comes down to looks, there’s really no particular thing that I look for. Maybe I’d say a healthy person, someone who has that healthy living vibe about her. When it comes to personality, I’m a little more picky. I like somebody that’s funny, somebody that has a good heart, I like somebody who’s kind. Those are my deal-breakers. If you’re not any of those, then we’re probably not going to get along very well.

Q: How did you prepare for the show? Did you work out a lot?

A: My preparation was very limited. I guess I worked out but whether I work out seven days a week for three hours a day or whether I work out zero times a week my body is gong to look similar. Genetically I’ve been blessed. My parents are both 65 years old and they’re both in really good shape. So it’s kind of a blessing and a curse. I want to be bigger, I want to look like Arnold (Schwarzenegger), but it’s never going to happen for me.

Q: What about emotional preparation?

A: I didn’t do any emotional preparation whatsoever. It was kind of a crash course for me. I had a lot of things that I wasn’t so good at. I wasn’t so good about opening up, I wasn’t so good about talking about myself. It was a challenge. I think that I’ve become a better person because of this show. I want to thank the people involved in this show because they taught me to be a better man and without them I would be the same old person that I was last year.

Q: So you’re more in touch with your emotions?

A: I’m way more in touch with my emotions, how to treat people, what a relationship entails. I was always very good at making people happy, but it was all very surface. Now that the show has taught me how to dive deeper, I realize that that’s what matters in a relationship and not the surface stuff.

“I’m way more in touch with my emotions, how to treat people, what a relationship entails.”

Q: There tends to be a lot of drama among the women on The Bachelor. Is it safe to say that happens with your season?

A: Yeah, but I don’t know if it revolves around me or not. A lot of it is between the girls on the show. I’ve always tried to steer myself away from any time of drama. If anything happens in a relationship where there’s any kind of yelling or screaming, I kind of just shut down. And whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up for discussion, but that’s how I’ve been. But I don’t like arguing, I don’t like fighting, so you probably won’t see any of that from me on the show.

Q: There’s always a lot of social media commentary that comes with doing a reality show. Are you going to follow along or will you avoid it?

A: I’ve been booed off the field at Yankee Stadium. Nothing fazes me. I’m not really on social media. All of my closest fiends know not to tell me about the stuff that they read because they know it doesn’t affect me. I just don’t even care. I respect the fact that you’re a super fan or into the show, but your opinion doesn’t matter. Whether it’s good or bad, it’s not going ot affect me at all.

Q: Can you tell me if you’re engaged, or in a relationship?

A: No, I’m not allowed to tell you that.

Q: Are you happy?

A: I’m always happy, no matter what. Do you love the vagueness of these answers?

Q: How did your mom and dad feel about you going on the show?

A: They weren’t super into it at first. My parents are very private, so I think that me being on national television is a big thing. My mom worries about what the chatter is going to be and what the internet says so it might be hard on her to hear a 12-year-old tell me that I’m ugly or that I’m a terrible baseball player … But she was great on the show. She came off as a loving, funny person just like she is in real life. My dad is just the same dude whether he’s on television or not, he’s just a chill guy. But my mom was most worried about everything.

The Bachelor Canada debuts Wednesday on W Network

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/the-bachelor-canadas-chris-leroux-learns-to-open-up/feed0The Bachelor CanadalwardpostmediaThe Bachelor CanadaInterrupt This Program shows how protest art can bring global changehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/interrupt-this-program-shows-how-protest-art-can-bring-global-change
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/interrupt-this-program-shows-how-protest-art-can-bring-global-change#respondTue, 10 Oct 2017 19:50:55 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765500]]>The revolution won’t just be televised — it will be painted, sculpted, danced and written. And when it is, the reverberations will be global.

Those aren’t the musings of some pie-in-the-sky dreamer of the “why can’t we all just get along” type. It’s documentable fact, says the CBC series Interrupt This Program, which examines underground arts scenes around the world itching to be catalysts for political change.

“We went to Warsaw, where there’s a rise in right-wing extremism,” Mehchi says. “In Warsaw, they’re saying that if you want to see what America is going to look like in a few years, just look at what’s going on in Poland right now.”

For example, the annual Independence Day demonstration in Warsaw, run by far-right nationalist groups, drew an estimated crowds of 75,000 people last year, up 5,000 from the year before.

The Warsaw episode of Interrupt This Program in turn features a popular singer who has been blacklisted by the government. Her songs are banned from the radio, and her presence is roundly unwelcome at any concert or festival sponsored by authorities.

Interrupt This Program in Jakarta. []

“You realize that this new populist government is totally changing the country,” Fiorito says. “The press is muzzled, and artists who criticize the government are boycotted on the radio. And there’s a big rise in anti-Semitism, which is extremely surprising. The voices of dissent right now in Poland are the artists because the press is muzzled.”

The series adds to the dialogue by featuring a Canadian artist living in the city in each episode, and the means of protest prove varied and resourceful.

“Everywhere we go, we discover new forms of art that we didn’t see before. In the Beirut episode in the first season we had a man doing belly dancing, which is unheard of because it’s usually women who do it. Being gay, he thought it was one way of confronting a society that’s very homophobic, very conservative and religious,” says Mehchi.

“We discovered mural artists, dancers, poetry done in different ways. In past seasons we travelled in Eastern European countries, like Ukraine and Russia, where there was a lot of performance art in the street, people using their bodies to protest or put the word out, because they didn’t have a lot of resources.”

Also this season the series travels to Mexico City, where femicide — the slaying of women and girls — is part of a national crisis. Last month, about 100 kilometres away in the state of Puebla, a university student was murdered after she used a ride-hailing service, prompting another round of street protests.

“Seven women get killed every day in Mexico, the country, just for being a woman.”

“Seven women get killed every day in Mexico, the country, just for being a woman. And in Mexico City we filmed with some artists that are attacking that issue,” Fiorito says.

Closer to home — in geography if not subject — is Chicago. In step with Fiorito and Mehchi’s mandate this season to focus on struggles that aren’t just defined by outright war or natural disasters, the Chicago episode highlights a different kind of conflict zone.

“After the election of Donald Trump, we knew we wanted to go to the States. We wanted to resonate beyond the new Trump administration, and we found a city that’s almost like the heart of what’s going on in the resistance movement and activism in the States right now, speaking against racial injustice, the lack of resources, the high amount of guns and gun violence,” Mehchi says. (Gun homicides in the city rose by 61 per cent between 2015 and 2016, and so far this year there’ve been 503 gun homicides in a population of just over 2.7 million.)

“You feel that there are artists who are trying to make art as accessible as possible. Artists are going out into the streets, they’re putting it out there. They don’t want to be exhibiting in galleries or trying to work in an isolated bubble,” he says, noting that social media brings an unprecedented immediacy and reach.

“They’re bringing the art to the people. It’s the democratization of art, basically.”

The hospital looked more like a prison ward. Patients were sedated, living in their own filth; a traumatized young girl wandered the hallways unattended; people with schizophrenia had no medication. Weissbecker, global mental health and psychosocial advisor for the International Medical Corps, brought the tragedy to potential donors, imploring them to fund better mental health services.

Her plea fell on deaf ears.

“They thought, ‘South Sudan is not ready for mental health. The country has bigger problems,’” she recalls with frustration.

Mental health disorders affect one in four people around the world and even more in low-and-middle- income countries riven by strife. Still, the problem is often overlooked in light of other pressing development priorities.

It wasn’t until civil war broke out in South Sudan that mental health funding poured in, as the world’s attention turned to children with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatized civilians.

For many, the logic is inescapable. In the hierarchy of needs, lifting people out of poverty and ensuring they are fed comes before mental health treatment. But this thinking crumbles when you look at the massive ripple effect of untreated mental health disorders.

Studies show a relationship between mental health conditions and unhealthy lifestyles, leading to higher rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, as well as drug and alcohol abuse. Healthcare systems in developing or crisis-plagued regions cannot handle the strain. Low-income countries average one psychiatrist for every two million people and spend less than 1 per cent of their health budgets on mental health.

Typically, when developing countries do invest in mental health, the money doesn’t go to outreach and prevention but to mental hospitals. Institutions are much more disruptive to patient’s lives, and carry a greater stigma in areas where education and awareness are lacking.

Donors and international organizations are often no better, explains Weissbecker. “When conflict breaks out, that’s when people start paying attention.”

The international community has made tremendous strides delivering medicines, containing outbreaks and fighting disease around the world. Now it must do the same for mental health.

We need to do more. We need to fund and train more psychiatrists and doctors, build community-based mental health services, and help break the cultural stigma associated with treatment. These are the types of solutions that should be talking points at the recent World Health Organization annual meeting, in time for World Mental Health Day on October 10.

In Canada, we’re a long way from achieving our goals but we’ve started to recognize the social and economic benefits of investing in mental health. It’s time we applied the same standards around the world. And we don’t have to wait for the trauma of conflict.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories at we.org.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

• MOVIES

Big Releases on Oct. 13: The Foreigner; Happy Death Day

Big picture: London businessman Quan (Jackie Chan), loses his daughter to an act of terrorism and revenge. That begins a hawkish pursuit of the terrorists that would be the envy of Liam Neeson’s Bryan Mills (Taken), persona or Bruce Willis’s John McClane (Die Hard). Standing in Quan’s path, a secretive British government official (Pierce Brosnan, channeling Petyr Baelish in Game of Thrones). Meanwhile, Happy Death Day finds a vapid college student (Jessica Rothe), reliving the day of her ever-grislier murder until she discovers her killer’s identity. It’s like TV’s Scream Queens meets 1993s Groundhog Day – with less ironic and sarcastic death (i.e. no Bill Murray.)

Forecast: The Foreigner, eh? Maybe not the best title in Donald Trump’s America. But Chan and Brosnan make for an intriguing face off. As for Death Day, solving your own murder is nothing. Try being a narcissistic, soulless weatherman re-living every day in a small, frozen town in order to become an empathetic human being. Now, that’s a struggle. You’re better off re-living Groundhog Dog.

Big Picture: Everything old is new again. 90210. Melrose Place. Dallas. Now ‘80s primetime soap Dynasty gets the reboot. Bring on the sexy, inter-generational battles of devious, good-looking billionaires! Meanwhile, David Fincher’s Netflix original drama Mindhunter features Holt McCallany and Jonathan Groff as FBI agents who solve murders with the help of imprisoned serial killers. The late ‘70s-set series is based on the true stories that inspired Jack Crawford’s character in the various Hannibal Lecter projects. When serial killers are your primary colleagues, every day feels like the worst Monday. Ever.

Forecast: C’mon CBC, where is the new generation of The Beachcombers starring Ryan Gosling as a hunky reincarnation of Relic? (Do I have to save the network for you? You lost hockey, people; think big!)

Honourable Mention: Lore (Oct. 13, Amazon Prime). Another reason for Canadians to consider subscribing to Amazon Prime. This anthology series is an early Halloween treat – with six episodes telling standalone scary tales that inspired famous works in the horror genre. Former Walking Dead producer Gale Anne Hurd masterminds this baby, so she knows the turf well.

Big Picture: Forget Halloween, Christmas has come early in one of the best musical release dates of the year. P!nk is poppy – and political – in her latest. Rock legend Robert Plant proves he’s still carrying the fire, again backed by the Sensational Space Shifters with guest vocals from Chrissie Hynde. Meanwhile, look for top-tier Canadian content in the form of Stars, with their first album since 2014. (From the album title, I assume the band explores the pasty, pudgy plight of the modern office worker.) Tegan and Sara put their homegrown talents into assembling artists for a charity cover album. Ryan Adams and City and Colour are among the many musicians covering the duo’s seminal 2007 album, The Con X.

Forecast: The hills – and playlists – are alive with the sound of music. I predict you’ll download them all in the morning and phone in sick.

Honourable Mention: Beck (Colors); St. Vincent (Masseduction)

Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, one of the most talented artists on the planet, releases the follow-up to her 2014 breakthrough. (The album is pronounced “mass seduction” – which is exactly what this album will do in the hands of this multi-instrumentalist and sublime vocalist). Finally, Beck sounds happy (for him, anyway), on a new up-tempo effort partially inspired by his time spent playing live with The Strokes.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Oct. 6: Blade Runner 2049; My Little Pony: The Movie.

Big picture: In 1982, director Ridley Scott gave us his vision of a dystopian Los Angeles in 2019. In his dark world, “replicants” of people were created to do hard labour in off-world colonies. When they escaped servitude, special cops called blade runners were dispatched to hunt them down. Sure, the prediction for 2019 seemed pretty bleak back then — and that was before a Trump presidency.

Thirty years later, the franchise sequel portrays the crumbling humanity of 2049. This time around, a new blade runner (Ryan Gosling) quests to find his predecessor Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford). Ford has now officially resurrected his three most iconic characters. Indy and his crystal skulls missed the mark, but we all loved seeing Han Solo fly again. Rick’s fate is TBD by audiences.

Meanwhile, another iconic 1980s toy best left forgotten is popularized on the silver screen in My Little Pony: The Movie.

Forecast: Blade Runner 2049 will make going back to the future worth the trip. But am I the only one who would have preferred My Little Pony: 2049. Killer replicant pseudo-cyborg ponies, anyone? Anyone?

Big picture: A pseudo-celebrity gets elected to political office with zero understanding or preparation for the job? We’ve seen this one in reality, right? And its an American horror story.

However, The Mayor is a sitcom that plays the premise for laughs when an aspiring, young rapper is accidentally elected mayor of his hometown. The cast includes Brandon Micheal Hall (Search Party), Yvette Nicole Brown (Community) and Lea Michele (Glee).

The Gifted is the latest super-hero show, a family drama X-Men spinoff from Marvel. Amy Acker and Stephen Moyer star as suburbanites who discover their kiddies are “gifted” — in the Charles Xavier meaning of the word — and must go on the run from government forces with a little help from their new-found friends (a network of mutants operating as a super-charged Underground Railroad).

Meanwhile, Kevin (Jason Ritter) talks (probably) to angels. Naturally, they give him a mission to save the world in this feel-good drama. Am I the only one who sees the TV crossover potential with Kevin visiting Lucifer in L.A., or teaming up with the ageless Winchester Bros. in Supernatural?

Forecast: In an ever-crowded super-hero entertainment field, The Gifted lives up to its title.

Meanwhile, former Oasis frontman Gallagher releases his first solo studio effort. I love the album title. People have been wishing someone could command the egotistical Gallagher brothers to be “as you were” for years now.

Finally, Mister Heavenly is an indie rock super group consisting of talent from Man Man, Islands, Modest Mouse and The Shins. This is their second collaboration.

Forecast: There will be no rain on this Wolf Parade; Boxing the Moonlight is destined to become a new yoga pose.

Dancing With the Stars wasted no time booting two couples off the floor this week, but did one of them have to be singer Debbie Gibson and her pro partner Alan Bersten? Gibson’s struggle with Lyme disease — all of those muscle pains during rehearsals, and even sensitivities from the glue keeping the rhinestones on her dress — is devastating, and seemed likely to drum up a lot more audience support than it did. “This show in this sort amount of time and this guy right here, I feel like I got my life back, so I am so thrilled and we’re going to keep dancing,” Gibson said after her elimination. Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran — who also opened up on the show about her own battle with dyslexia — and her partner Keo Motsepe were also eliminated this week.

Gone country

The Voice has a certain twang about it this season. And no one was more desperate to get behind the trend on Tuesday’s debut than Miley Cyrus. Sure, she comes by the country thing honestly: Her dad is Billy Ray Cyrus and Dolly Parton is her godmother. But it took her three tries to convince one of the show’s country contestants to choose her for a coach. I guess that’s what happens when one of your fellow coaches is country superstar (and frequent Voice champ) Blake Shelton. Both Keisha Renee, 30, and Red Marlow, 40, weren’t buying into Cyrus’ pleas. But the pop star — who has recently gone country herself — did persuade 21-year-old singer Ashland Craft to join her team. “Blake really is the king of country, that’s for sure,” Cyrus said, “but they need a queen.” Craft, who performed a countrified version of You Are My Sunshine, was sold.

So you think you can sew?

Are you stylish? Do you design and sew things? Is Project Runway your favourite show? If your answer to all of these questions is yes, you have very, very little time to take a shot at fashion fame by applying to be on a new competition series called Stitched. Brought to you by the producer of Project Runway Canada and Project Runway All Star Challenge, each episode of Stitched (network and air date to be announced) will see four designers compete in three challenges for a shot at a cash prize. You have to be a Canadian or U.S. citizen and over the age of majority in your province, territory or state as of Jan. 31, 2018 to apply. Here’s the catch: The casting deadline is Sept. 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET. But if you’ve truly got what it takes, a tight deadline’s not going to stop you.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/reality-check-dancing-with-the-stars-the-voice-and-more/feed0The Voice - Season 11lwardpostmediaGlobal Voices: X Prizes changing liveshttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-x-prizes-changing-lives
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-x-prizes-changing-lives#respondFri, 29 Sep 2017 19:59:29 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765432]]>In engineering labs, home garages and makeshift workshops around the world, innovators drew up plans, designed and tinkered in a race to get to space.

Teams of former NASA engineers competed with hobbyists, university students, and a group of of 1,000 Toronto volunteers for the most democratic innovation prize ever.

The result was SpaceShipOne, a rocket that made major leaps toward commercial space travel and became the first ever X Prize winner.

The X Prize is like the American Idol of world-changing technology, open to anyone with the talent and the drive to compete.

Since the first award was granted for space travel, X Prizes have crowdsourced ideas to solve major problems, tackling everything from oil spill cleanup to technology driven solutions to global learning.

The latest X Prize winners created a real-life version of Star Trek’s tricorder.

The self-funded team of friends and siblings from Pennsylvania beat more than 300 others, including teams with corporate and government funding, and revolutionized health care in developing communities with a diagnostic tool that will allow patients to self-diagnose 34 conditions.

And because teams can come from anywhere, bringing with them diverse backgrounds and skill sets, the next world-changing solution might come from anyone.

Even a bee-keeper.

“My goal is to talk to my bees,” says Marc-André Roberge, co-founder of Nectar and an entrant in the IBM Watson A.I. X Prize, to be announced in 2020.

Nectar uses artificial intelligence technology to eavesdrop on bees, a system designed to monitor hive behaviour in the face of colony collapse disorder, the mysterious disappearance of bees that threatens the world food supply.

“The X Prize is like the American Idol of world changing technology, open to anyone with the talent and the drive to compete.”

For Roberge, bee-keeping was a hobby — until he saw a global problem he could solve with his design and tech background.

Roberge calls the X Prize a “force for good.” Between the prize money, mentorship and networking opportunities, Roberge sees the competitive environment as an ecosystem breeding solutions to pressing problems.

“It takes a village to build something that will have a good impact on the world,” he says.

Prizes are not always the right solution, says Luciano Kay, a Research Fellow at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Some issues — like new drug treatments — are so complex and require so much investment and sustained research, it’s unreasonable to expect individuals to match the efforts of governments.

Still, the wild success of the first X Prize has led to a renaissance in what we’re calling crowdsourced innovation, which dates back to the 1700s when the British government offered a prize to improve ocean navigation.

Today, everyone from NASA to Netflix are calling on the public to spur the hunt for alien life and help strangers pick the right movie.

Recent research suggests this is more than a publicity stunt. Harvard University looked at the Royal Agricultural Society of England and concluded that prizes handed out between 1839 and 1939 led to not only more patents, but improved inventions as well.

The X Prize changes what people believe is possible. And that’s the first step toward innovation.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

]]>http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-x-prizes-changing-lives/feed0HoneybeescraigkielburgerBooks for Kids: There’s more to The Prince of Pot than marijuanahttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/books/books-for-kids-theres-more-to-the-prince-of-pot-than-marijuana
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/books/books-for-kids-theres-more-to-the-prince-of-pot-than-marijuana#respondFri, 29 Sep 2017 19:43:32 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765426]]>Bernie Goedhart

The Prince of Pot

By Tanya Lloyd Kyi

Groundwood Books

Age 13 and older

We’re told never to judge a book by its cover, but any honest reviewer who receives a host of unsolicited books will tell you that the cover is the first thing we judge. If it looks interesting or appealing, we’re more likely to pull the book from the pile, crack it open, and start reading.

Prince of Pot has such a cover (illustrated by Guy Parsons). And while I made it through the Sixties (and subsequent decades) without ever rolling a joint or smoking (with or without inhaling), the idea of a YA novel about a teenager who lives on a grow-op in British Columbia piqued my interest. I was hooked before the end of chapter one, and sorry to reach page 210 where it was time to take my leave of 17-year-old Isaac Mawson, who was finally striking out on his own and heading to San Francisco to pursue art studies with an old friend of his grandfather.

Grandpa Walt, now elderly and somewhat debilitated by a stroke (he has trouble verbalizing, except for a couple of frequent curse words that quickly fade into background noise once the initial shock of encountering them in print passes), is the one who first started growing pot in the mountains of B.C. Having served half a tour in Vietnam in the 1970s as rear helicopter gunner, he deserted and made his way to Canada — along with many thousands of other Americans who chose not to fight.

He joined a commune of draft dodgers in the Slocan Valley, where he met Isaac’s grandma, and the two of them eventually struck out on their own, for a clearing in the Selkirk Mountains near Creston, where Walt started an illegal grow-op, now being run by Isaac’s dad, producing a primo crop called Draft Dodger Dark.

A brief author’s bio at the end of the book tells us that Tanya Lloyd Kyi knows whereof she writes. Her novel, rich in description, is set in an area where she spent several childhood years and while she herself didn’t live on a grow-op, she’s clearly familiar with those who did — and with the animals who shared space with humans in the woods. (Habituated bears play a huge role in this story and it’s a mark of the writer’s talents that, by the end of the book, I was as taken with them as I was with Isaac and his family.)

Parents and teachers concerned about the novel’s subject matter should know there’s much more to this book than the subject of marijuana. For one thing, Isaac’s first love turns out to be the daughter of an RCMP officer.

An out-of-the-ordinary coming-of-age story, The Prince of Pot speaks to a lot of basic issues facing any teenager about to graduate high school and plan a life away from home. True, Isaac’s is an unusual home, and his issues involve learning how to get beyond the need to live invisibly — but even teenagers who don’t have to worry about curious cops and helicopters overhead will be able to relate. Adults would be wise to read the book themselves, and open some lines of communication.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/books/books-for-kids-theres-more-to-the-prince-of-pot-than-marijuana/feed0Prince of Potpostmedianews1Craig Robinson’s new show Ghosted plumbs paranormal for laughshttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/craig-robinsons-new-show-ghosted-plumbs-paranormal-for-laughs
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/craig-robinsons-new-show-ghosted-plumbs-paranormal-for-laughs#respondFri, 29 Sep 2017 19:23:17 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765414]]>It doesn’t take much to get Craig Robinson to show off his mellifluous voice onscreen.

As a warehouse foreman on The Office, he taught Steve Carrell’s character to sing the blues. In Hot Tub Time Machine, he perked up a club with a cover of Let’s Get it Started by The Black Eyed Peas. And as an inner city music teacher on TV’s Mr. Robinson, he rocked out with Earth, Wind & Fire.

But on the supernatural comedy Ghosted, in which he plays an unlikely paranormal investigator opposite Adam Scott, his aim is considerably less noble.

“In the pilot, I’m singing just to shut Adam up,” says Robinson, who co-starred with Scott in Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and fronts the funk band Craig Robinson & The Nasty Delicious. “(Singing more than that) hasn’t really been discussed, but if we go long enough I’ll probably end up doing something. But I don’t want to speak for the writers.”

As it stands, Ghosted debuts Sunday on Fox and City, and centres on Robinson’s skeptical character Leroy, a mall cop who’s recruited by a secret government agency to look into the supernatural incidents in Los Angeles. He’s teamed up with Scott’s character Max, a disgraced professor who believes in the paranormal. Amber Stevens West, Ally Walker and Adeel Akhtar also star. It’s like The X-Files, with Robinson’s afro instead of David Duchovny’s moody pout.

Craig Robinson in Ghosted [Fox]

In fact, the lead character’s impressive follicular situation was written into the show from the start.

“The description of my character was like ‘badass black dude with a badass afro,’ ” Robinson says. “And I was like, ‘I’m listening …’ But the script also made me laugh, so I met with (creator) Tom Gormican in New York over barbecue — I’ve since started living this vegan lifestyle, no big deal — and we got to chit-chatting.”

Both Robinson and Scott signed on to be executive producers, and the result was a decidedly offbeat TV comedy that has been one of the most anticipated shows of the 2017-18 TV season. Robinson and Scott are known for their roles on The Office and Parks and Recreation, respectively, and executive producer Jonathan Krisel he has writing and directing credits on Portlandia, Kroll Show and Baskets (which he created).

Ghosted joins other supernaturally inclined fare trying to find an audience on TV: The Good Place just kicked off its second season on Global and NBC; People of Earth is also in season 2 on TBS and Comedy; and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World debuts Tuesday on ABC and CTV.

“I don’t think there’s any way we’re alone on this planet.”

“We are very careful to get it right with the paranormal, to make the scary moments scary and to make the paranormal appear real,” Robinson says. “Comedy is king, but we had to sacrifice some jokes in the pilot because we wanted to make sure the gravitas of the situation was respected.”

Away from the boys-and-ghouls TV show, Robinson is more likely to think the truth is out there than his onscreen character — or his co-star.

“In reality, Adam is the skeptic and I’m the believer. I don’t think there’s any way we’re alone on this planet, and stuff like that,” he says, naming Star Wars, Star Trek and Futurama among his favourite sci-fi franchises.

“I think with Ghosted being a buddy comedy, we have kind of an ’80s throwback feel to it. And then mix in the paranormal and throw some heart in there, and you’ll get some belly laughs out of it too. It’s a nice little mixture to make people say, ‘OK, OK, I’ll give you another week. Let’s see what’s happening.’ ”

Ghosted debuts Sunday, City/Fox

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/craig-robinsons-new-show-ghosted-plumbs-paranormal-for-laughs/feed0Craig Robinson and Adam Scott in GHOSTEDmhank2012Craig Robinson in GhostedKevin (Probably) Saves the World is uplifting — with an edgehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/kevin-probably-saves-the-world-is-uplifting-with-an-edge
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/kevin-probably-saves-the-world-is-uplifting-with-an-edge#respondFri, 29 Sep 2017 19:11:31 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765408]]>You can’t judge a TV show by its synopsis. So says Jason Ritter, who stars in the angelically themed dramedy Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, debuting Tuesday on ABC and CTV. It centres on a self-serving slacker who’s visited by a celestial being who tells him it’s his destiny become a better person. In fact, he’s the last of 36 righteous souls who are tasked with protecting all of humanity.

“When I read the script, I was glad that no one had tried to describe it to me before I read it. I think the humour through the whole thing undercuts what the show initially sounds like,” he says. “But I enjoyed the strange blend of edgy comedy and uplifting earnestness. You usually sacrifice one for the other, so I really appreciated it.”

Savvy viewers in Canada likely recognize the similarities to the CraveTV original series What Would Sal Do? In that comedy, the titular self-centred underachiever discovers that he’s actually the second coming of Jesus Christ and must better himself accordingly.

But, says Ritter, such themes of fraught self-improvement and global concern are all part of the zeitgeist.

“I think in a time where there’s so much divisiveness and people are being defined — you’re either this or you’re that — there’s something nice about a show that’s about connection and connecting and the humanity that goes through everyone,” he says.

“I think it’s within each of us to decide what kind of world we’d like to live in.”

“I would be lying if I said that after I finished reading the pilot I wasn’t like, ‘It would be nice if that were true.’ But it can be, I think it’s within each of us to decide what kind of world we’d like to live in.”

Originally titled The Gospel of Kevin, the show also stars JoAnna Garcia Swisher as Kevin’s sister Amy, with whom he moves in after a bad breakup and a suicide attempt. Kimberly Hebert Gregory plays the down-to-earth angel Yvette, who sends Kevin on various missions of do-gooding that will eventually lead him to find the other 35 righteous souls.

“He’s going to have to fight his own obstacles that are coming internally from him, because he’s not the happy-go-lucky guy he thinks he should be. And he’ll have to overcome everyone around him thinking that he’s losing it,” says Ritter.

“Here he has this mission that and there’s someone telling you to do all of these things, and nobody else can see them. And so how do you convince people that you’re telling the truth when they can’t see what you see?”

I finally got my first glimpse of Crystal River Cruises first purpose-built river cruise ships a few weeks back, in Cologne, Germany. The line’s newly launched Crystal Bach was tied up behind the one I was travelling aboard, and I went over to the pier to have a closer look.

Crystal Bach is wholly unique on the rivers of Europe; as distinct in shape and style as Viking River Cruises’ Viking Longships were when they first debuted back in 2012. For Crystal, though, it’s all about luxury — something the line takes every opportunity to tout. Indeed, its superlative-laden news releases are a bit over-the-top. But, as I stood next to Crystal Bach and gazed up at it, I think Crystal might be on to something.

First, there’s the ship’s gorgeous Palm Court Lounge, which has glass windows that curve attractively upwards to form part of the ship’s ceiling. Europe’s rivers are full of low-bridges, including more than a few on the sail up the Rhine into Cologne; passing close to one of these behemoths must be especially impressive from Crystal’s Palm Court.

The other thing that’s apparent about Crystal Bach, from the outside at least, is that the ship’s wheelhouse has cleverly been relocated to the very bow of the ship. Not only does this give Crystal Bach something of a powerful, commanding appearance, but it also provided the space for her designers to put something truly unique in its place: a “pop-up” bar.

The ship’s Vista Bar, mounted on the uppermost sun deck, can be retracted into the floor in order for the ship to pass under low bridges. But, when the ship is docked or in areas that permit it, guests can enjoy a cool cocktail (always included in the price on Crystal) up on deck as the Rhine or the Danube pass by.

That’s in addition to all of the other noteworthy features about these ships — from their suites fitted with lavish beds and amenities like Etro robes and slippers and in-suite Nespresso machines, to the unique design of Crystal’s new river cruise ships that seeks to bring the best features from the line’s oceangoing ships, Crystal Symphony and Crystal Serenity, to the waterways of Europe.

Now, Crystal has just taken delivery of its second Rhine Class river cruise ship, Crystal Mahler. A direct sister to Crystal Bach, the 106-guest Crystal Mahler will make her home on the Rhine and the Danube, operating a series of seven-, 11- and 16-day voyages throughout Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and the Netherlands.

On hand for the launch of Crystal Mahler was Tom Wolber, the line’s newly appointed CEO, who succeeds the outgoing Edie Rodriguez as head of Crystal. “Welcoming this stunning new ship to Crystal’s celebrated fleet is incredibly gratifying, as we continue to expand the celebrated Crystal Experience to a broader audience of discerning world travellers,” he said. “Like her sister ships, Crystal Mahler surpasses all previously established standards of luxury in the river cruising industry, with Crystal’s signature service and attention to detail that our guests have long expected from the ‘world’s best.’ ”

Wolber, who comes to Crystal with a decade of experience at Disney Cruise Line, will oversee the rest of Crystal’s expansion plans — which include the design and launch of three new hybrid expedition and luxury cruise ships between 2019 and 2021.

Two additional river cruise ships, Crystal Debussy and Crystal Ravel, will join the Crystal River Cruise fleet next year.

For Crystal, the past few years have been a time of unprecedented expansion and investment, but these plans have been far from problem-free. Crystal reneged on plans to reintroduce the historic S.S. United States to service; cancelled its much-hyped Crystal Air Cruise program just weeks before its debut; and continually monkeyed with its river cruise itineraries and launch dates.

Looking at Crystal Bach at her berth in Cologne, it’s obvious the line did a great job with its inaugural river cruise product: the ship looks amazing. But it is the new kid on the block in one of the most competitive and fast-growing segments of the travel industry, and Crystal will have to back up that great-looking ship with an onboard experience to match.

Happy cruising.

Portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/tuning-in-to-crystals-next-luxury-river-cruise-liner/feed0ftdc_crystalbach-0251aaronpsaundersMacGyver star Lucas Till talks season 2, Hawaii Five-0 crossoverhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/macgyver-star-lucas-till-talks-season-2-hawaii-five-0-crossover
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/macgyver-star-lucas-till-talks-season-2-hawaii-five-0-crossover#commentsTue, 26 Sep 2017 19:45:11 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765394]]>As sure as you can use a chewing gum wrapper to fix a broken fuse box, Lucas Till was born to play Angus MacGyver. The star of CBS’s action reboot MacGyver has a mother who’s a chemist and a dad who’s in the U.S. army, so playing a government operative who uses unconventional — and sometimes unbelievable — methods to save lives comes naturally.

“We used to call my dad MacGyver because he would hijack all my class projects and do them for me, so it’s kind of crazy that I got the part in the show,” says Till.

Based on the like-named series starring Richard Dean Anderson, which aired from 1985 to 1992, MacGyver builds on the franchise so embedded in pop culture that the name MacGyver has become a catch-all verb.

Have a leaky faucet that you fixed using duct tape and Silly Putty? You just MacGyvered your way out of a flooded bathroom. Got stuck in a snowbank and used kitty litter to get out? Your MacGyvering skills are developing well, young Grasshopper.

Lucas Till in MacGyver [CBS]

Set to debut its second season Friday on Global and CBS, MacGyver also stars George Eads, Sandrine Holt, Tristin Mays, Justin Hires and Meredith Eaton.

Last season, the team used a ruler and coconut oil to make disguises, employed a hook and a car cable to extract a criminal and finagled a fish scaler and some fishing wire to track down a corrupt FBI agent. Behind the scenes, technical consultant Rhett Allain, who’s also a physics professor and author, is on hand to verify the plausibility of Mac’s tricks.

“There’s a trick with toothpicks and forks that I can do in real life, and it’s like a balancing act. But other than that, there’s not too much. A lot of that stuff is too dangerous to try on your own,” Till says, adding filming the action scenes can also wreak havoc on a guy.

“I’ve been doing a lot of yoga after the fact, because when I wasn’t preparing at all I would get really stiff and hurt myself. Unless I’m mistaken, I think I do all my fight scenes, but every now and again they have a jump-in because it’s just not safe enough or I don’t have time. But I like to do as much as they’ll let me.”

Lucas Till in MacGyver [CBS]

Also in its first season, MacGyver aired a crossover episode with fellow CBS show Hawaii Five-0, a reboot itself of the like-named series that aired from 1968 to 1980. For that episode, Till and Eads flew from the Atlanta set of MacGyver to film scenes in Hawaii with Five-0 cast members including Grace Park and Daniel Dae Kim (both have since left the show after salary disputes). Till says he’s cautiously open to another crossover.

“If I have one day off at the beginning, and one day off at the end, then I’ll go back,” he jokes. “Obviously I’ll do whatever they want, but it’s not as beautiful of a trip as you’d think because it’s all work and you can’t even get to the ocean. And filming in the middle of the week is very stressful. But yeah, it sounds really cool on paper. Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park were amazing.”

As for guest stars, the idea of original MacGyver Anderson making an appearance is still out there. Show executives reached out to Anderson last summer, but the actor said on his website that he didn’t want to be part of the reboot out of loyalty to fans of the original show.

“I have no idea (if he’ll guest-star). We still don’t know what he would be yet, but it’s always a possiblitiy,” says Till. “I think that first season we were just trying to figure out whether we were going to get season 2 or not, and establishing all these other characters and relationships. Now we can build on that and introduce new people.”

MacGyver debuts season 2 on Friday, Global/CBS

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/macgyver-star-lucas-till-talks-season-2-hawaii-five-0-crossover/feed1Lucas Till faces weekly danger as MacGyvermhank2012Lucas Till in MacGyverLucas Till in MacGyverGlobal Voices: Help break stereotypes by setting an examplehttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-help-break-stereotypes-by-setting-an-example
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-help-break-stereotypes-by-setting-an-example#respondTue, 26 Sep 2017 14:59:45 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765369]]>The day after the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Clarence Pitterson stood in front of his students at Father Henry Carr Catholic Secondary School in Toronto’s west end, overcome with excitement as he talked about America’s first black president.

One of the few black teachers at the school, Pitterson’s social studies class often started with conversations about racially charged issues in the news, from police shootings to protests against discrimination.

Those discussions brought the experiences of students of colour into the classroom, giving them much-needed space to share their world view. But he says his white students gained just as much.

“Students don’t see enough people of colour in positions of authority,” says Pitterson, who is now vice-principal. “Conversations about race, talking about what’s happening in society, they’re eye-opening for my white students, giving them a different perspective.”

Teachers don’t have to be a visible minority to facilitate that discussion — but with growing levels of racism and record numbers of hate crimes across the country, Pitterson acts as a role model for white students, who need the opportunity to reach across the racial divide to interact with more caring and capable people of colour in positions of respect and authority.

That opportunity is being lost, explains equity consultant Tana Turner.

“We like to compare ourselves to the United States and think we’re doing much better, but when you look at the data, we’re no further ahead with respect to representing the student population,” Turner says.

Canada may be more diverse than ever, but we tend to socialize within our backgrounds [Getty Images]

In Ontario, for example, just 13 per cent of teachers are visible minorities while more than one-quarter of students are; the diversity gap between teachers and students is similarly wide in all provinces.

Exacerbating the problem is a broader social trend.

Canada may be more diverse than ever, but we tend to socialize within our backgrounds, “self-segregating based on race, class or culture,” explains Turner. The result is that most young white people won’t see societal diversity among their parents’ friends or on their social media feeds.

This puts added pressure on the school system to advance diversity — to ensure that when students leave school and enter the workforce, their perspectives of people of colour are not defined by stereotypes, but by real people they’ve encountered.

Students of colour perform better academically and benefit socially when they have teachers of the same race.

Decades of research prove that students of colour perform better academically and benefit socially when they have teachers of the same race. And school boards across Canada are actively recruiting more visible minorities while universities work to diversify enrolment.

White students stand to benefit just as much. Stereotypes crumble next to real people and role models.

Pitterson says parents shouldn’t wait until there are more people of colour standing in front of the classroom; they should play a more active part in finding role models throughout the community.

Sports coaches, tutors and music teachers offer opportunities for mentorship, while community service groups and youth organizations bring people together across cultures and faith groups.

“If it’s not happening in school, we have to actively seek it out,” says Pitterson. “Just one experience, one personal connection with someone different than you can burst the bubble of stereotypes. I’ve seen it.”

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of theWE movement,which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

]]>http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-help-break-stereotypes-by-setting-an-example/feed0Stereotypes crumble next to real people and role modelscraigkielburgerCanada may be more diverse than ever, but we tend to socialize within our backgroundsBull showrunner talks season 2 changes, guest-starshttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/bull-showrunner-talks-season-2-changes-guest-stars
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/bull-showrunner-talks-season-2-changes-guest-stars#respondMon, 25 Sep 2017 19:55:07 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765379]]>Talk about a trial by fire. When Glenn Gordon Caron was tapped as a showrunner for TV’s crime drama Bull, the series was already established as a hit.

After it debuted, it became one of the top new series of the 2016-17 season. Michael Weatherly, a fan-favourite on CBS’s drama NCIS, was successfully reinventing himself on Bull as a trial consultant loosely based on Phil McGraw, before he became Dr. Phil.

What’s more, in an act of faith, CBS renewed the show just after it brought in Caron as a consultant, with only a couple of months of new episodes left before he officially became the showrunner for season 2. His job was simply to avoid messing things up.

Ahead of the Sept. 26 première on Global and CBS, Caron spoke about making the show his own, the big-name guest stars ahead and his signature series, Moonlighting.

Q: Have you ever served on a jury yourself?

A: No, I’ve come awfully close — it seems like they call me every year.

Q: It seems you would shake things up on a jury, seeing behind all the mind games and psychology.

A: Not at all! I’m learning along with everyone else, but I have excellent help. Dr. Phil owned a trial science company and pretty much invented the whole idea of trial science, and he has all sorts of amazing stories to tell and theories of human behaviour.

Q: How will season 2 compare to season 1?

A: My marching orders were to make it more character driven. Perhaps a slightly different relationship between the case and the people. I think early on, because trial science was so new and different, the instinct was let’s do a purely procedural kind of story, and obviously it worked. The show’s wildly popular. But then people started to wonder could it be even richer and better if we spent some of that time getting to know the people who work at Trial Analysis Corporation (TAC) better?

Glenn Gordon Caron, executive producer of the CBS drama Bull [CBS]

The first three episodes that I worked on coincided with an arc that had been sketched in, involving a woman named J.P. Nunnelly (Eliza Dushku), an attorney who seeks out Bull’s help, and it’s a three-episode relationship. My giant fear was that people would look at those three and say “Well, this is just a different show.” But they didn’t. So we’re doing more of that this year — using the stories and trials to help us explore the lives of the people who work at TAC.

Q: Who are some of the guest stars coming up?

A: On the season premiere, we’re bringing back Diana (Jill Flint), who was kind of a fan favourite. Minka Kelly joins us as well in the premiere. We have a big guest star on our fourth epsidoe, Brad Garrett. And then a little further down the road, we just closed the deal to have Archie Panjabi, from The Good Wife. We’ve got a lot to be excited about.

Q: You created Moonlighting, which is known for the romantic tension between the leads. With that in mind, how will Bull and J.P.’s relationship progress romantically?

A: When you watch the last episode from the first season, there’s that sense of two people saying, “We need to take a break.” She’s incapable of trusting him, and the relationship dissolves. He’s sitting and reading the paper and she takes off. That isn’t to say she won’t be back. But I don’t think we’ll see her in the near future.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Sept. 29: American Made; Flatliners.

Big picture: American Made is Netflix’s Narcos meets Top Gun meets Blow. Tom Cruise plays a 1980s pilot who pulls triple duty working for the CIA, DEA and a Columbia drug cartel. It’s based on a true story. Even when Cruise’s fly boy evades capture and lands his plane in a subdivision, and emerges from the semi-wreckage covered in cocaine, and then proceeds to hand out cash to cover the damage (and pay a local kid for his bike as getaway wheels). The title American Made could also double as Cruise’s bio.

Meanwhile, Flatliners is a revamp of the 1990 sci-fi classic about medical students who begin a series of self-experiments on near-death experience in order to explore the afterlife. Unfortunately, unwelcome forces begin following them back to the world of the living. Cue the horror movie tropes.

Forecast: Cruise is at his best when he breaks bad, and here he plays a charming gun and drug smuggler and occasional money launderer. As for Flatliners, it probably didn’t need to a second life.

Big picture: Ghosted is a comic take on the X-Files/Supernatural formula starring the requisite skeptic (Craig Robinson) paired with a hardcore true believer (Adam Scott) as they investigate paranormal cases. (The casting alone makes me smile.)

Meanwhile, Me, Myself & I is a promising single-camera comedy about a man in three different time periods. John Larroquette plays him at 65; Saturday Night Live’s Bobby Moynihan stars as the 40-year-old version, and Jack Dylan Grazer portrays him as a 14-year-old. (Finally, a time travel series we can actually understand.)

Of course, Young Sheldon, the The Big Bang Theory spinoff, also goes back in time and bows on the same night. Chuck Lorre’s first single-camera comedy centres on that show’s Sheldon Cooper back when he was a child prodigy (Jim Parsons narrates). It’s like Big Bang meets The Wonder Years.

Honourable mention: Marvel’s Inhumans (Sept. 29, ABC/CTV); The Good Doctor (ABC/CTV). ABC’s third Marvel series might not be able to save itself — even with a special two-hour premiere. A super-human royal family? It’s like a peasant’s The Tudors meets a poor spaceman’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

Big picture: The two superstar musicians had to be in co-hoots on these album titles, right?

Forecast: One week after being announced as a judge on the new Canadian music reality series, The Launch, the Queen of Country’s comeback is complete. This effort arrives 15 years after her last studio full-length, titled Up! (Twain shouldn’t enter a Scrabble competition any time soon.)

Meanwhile, Miley will continue to prove naysayers wrong, and separate herself from the pop-star pack. Real talent will do that for you. Her country-infused title track alone proves she’s no one-trick pony.

Another season of Dancing With the Stars took over the dance floor this week, leaving behind a trail of glitter — and marital anger, possibly.

Husband and wife celeb dancers Vanessa and Nick Lachey — who are paired with also-married pro dancers Maks Chmerkovskiy and Peta Murgatroyd respectively — are competing against each other in a supposedly friendly manner, but the gossip websites will have you know they are engaging in jealous disputes backstage.

The fact is, Vanessa scored a 21 out of 30 this week while Nick scored an 18. Though according to U.S. gambling website Bovada, Nick (whose brother Drew won DWTS in 2006) is favoured to win the season with 4:1 odds — while Vanessa trails in seventh spot (out of 13 celeb dancers) with 9:1 odds.

We shall wait and see how this one plays out — onstage and off.

Besides, it’s Barbara Corcoran who stirred up the most controversy on Monday’s season 5 premiere. The Shark Tank star appeared to grab her pro partner Keo Motsepe’s crotch while listening to the judges’ critiques of their salsa performance.

Corcoran, who has been married to former FBI agent Bill Higgins for 28 years, told Us Weekly it was not intentional.

“There was no crotch grab,” she said. “I just happened to land my hand on that very important part.”

She went on to describe rehearsals with Motsepe in an, er, interesting manner: “I feel like I lose my virginity every day in practice. Again and again and again and again.” Yeah, I’ve nothing.

Shania Twain []

Shania ready to Launch

CTV raised the buzz level on its upcoming music competition series The Launch with another big name this week: Shania Twain.

Canada’s beloved country woman will be a mentor on the inaugural season of the show, now in production.

Plus, CTV is hoping the show will go international. Need you really ask more?

The Voice triumphs … again

The reality TV competition category might be the laughingstock of the Emmys, but clearly The Voice is doing something distinguished enough to garner three consecutive wins.

It beat out RuPaul’s Drag Race, The Amazing Race, Top Chef, American Ninja Warrior and Project Runway.

Good timing since The Voice — which sees music stars mentoring and judging young musicians — is set to debut its 13th season on Monday (CTV/NBC), with Jennifer Hudson (who knows a thing or two about winning major Hollywood awards herself) stepping into a coaching position.

On a similar note, didn’t Survivor used to win a ton of Emmys? Ah well, the fact that it’s about to start its 35th season (Sept. 27 on Global/CBS) is prize enough.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/reality-check-for-sept-23-dwts-the-launch-the-voice/feed0BARBARA CORCORAN, KEO MOTSEPElwardpostmediaShania TwainCBC’s The Wild Canadian Year celebrates amazing wildlifehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/cbcs-the-wild-canadian-year-celebrates-amazing-wildlife
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/cbcs-the-wild-canadian-year-celebrates-amazing-wildlife#respondFri, 22 Sep 2017 21:17:46 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765328]]>When was the last time you trekked into the Canadian wild? The last time you let your feet sink into the soil, heard birds fill a forest or simply sat riverside? Whether it was last week or last year, there’s no denying the beauty of our vast and varied environment — and the wildlife that inhabits it.

The new documentary series The Wild Canadian Year, debuting Sunday on CBC, celebrates just that. Split into five parts, it comes from filmmaker Jeff Turner and will air as part of The Nature of Things with David Suzuki. The first four episodes focus on specific seasons, with the final one going behind the scenes of the production.

Here’s a sample of the wildlife footage ahead, courtesy of CBC.

A Prairie rattlesnake [CBC]

The cooler nights and shorter days of fall signal a change for Prairie rattlesnakes, Canada’s largest venomous snake, which can grow up to a metre long. Pregnant for more than a year, the female rattlesnake doesn’t lay eggs — the young are born live. A rattlesnake takes its first breath in the fall episode, airing Oct. 8.

The mola mola [CBC]

Every summer, a fish the size of a pickup truck swims through British Columbia’s coastal waters. This is the mola mola, or sunfish, the heaviest bony fish in the world. It can carry up to 50 different parasites, so the mola mola swims to the surface and lets seagulls peck them off. It’s featured in the summer episode, airing Oct. 1.

A pelican [CBC]

Pelicans spend the winter in the Southern U.S. and Mexico, but come spring they must return to Canada to start a family, and Last Mountain Lake in Saskatchewan is the perfect nesting ground. In the pelican version of speed dating, they only have a week to find The One, so they grow impressive white plumage to woo a mate. Pelicans are in the spring episode, airing Sept. 24.

An American pika [CBC]

During summertime in the Rocky Mountains, American pikas make up to 200 trips a day to gather enough alpine wildflowers to last through winter. But all that running back and forth is hard work — especially when your legs are just four cm long — so pikas sometimes sneak blooms from neighbours when no one is looking. The summer episode, airing Oct. 1, features pikas.

A family of lynx [CBC]

A mother lynx and her kittens peer out from under a spruce tree in the Yukon. Lynx are perfectly designed for winter — they splay their paws like snowshoes and float along the surface of the snow while hunting. It took a cameraman 80 days to achieve a wildlife filmmaking first: capturing a wild lynx successfully hunting a snowshoe hare. It airs in the winter episode, set for Oct. 15.

A short-tailed weasel [CBC]

The short-tailed weasel changes its dark coat to white in the winter so it can blend in with the snow. It is one of the few animals slinky enough to crawl through the elaborate network of tunnels formed under the snow each winter by voles and mice. This subnivean world is a great hunting ground for the slim predator, who locates prey by using her keen sense of smell. Weasels are in the winter instalment, airing Oct. 15.

Arctic fox pups [CBC]

Arctic fox pups play as spring arrives on the Arctic tundra in Canada’s far north. Their mother keeps an eye on them while her mate goes to find food. As the pups grow and demand more food, the parents will have their work cut out for them. But luckily there’s a surprising source of food that flies into this bleak landscape each spring. Arctic foxes are featured in the spring episode, set for Sept. 24.]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/cbcs-the-wild-canadian-year-celebrates-amazing-wildlife/feed0David Suzukimhank2012The Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCThe Great Canadian Year -- CBCMurdoch Mysteries returns for season 11 after cliffhangerhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/murdoch-mysteries-returns-for-season-11-after-cliffhanger
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/murdoch-mysteries-returns-for-season-11-after-cliffhanger#commentsFri, 22 Sep 2017 20:11:57 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765321]]>With the action in Murdoch Mysteries’ season finale squeezed in tighter than a size 10 gal in a size six corset, fans have been eagerly awaiting the period drama’s return. And with the episode Up From Ashes, airing Monday on CBC, it’s finally here.

When we last saw our heroes at Station House No. 4, an investigation gone awry found Det. William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) framed for murder, and the lives of his colleagues and wife Julia (Helene Joy) in danger. The season 11 première picks up after the cliffhanger, with British actress Tamzin Outhwaite guest-starring as Penelope Marsh, who temporarily replaces Insp. Brackenreid (Thomas Craig) to further shake things up.

“It was quite revolutionary at the time to have a female boss, so they do react strangely to the fact that it’s a woman who’s come to take over from Brackenreid. And what she uncovers is quite interesting – stuff isn’t as it seems,” says Outhwaite, who’s also known for playing Melanie Owen on the British soap opera EastEnders from 1998 to 2002.

“It’s lovely the way things have been left, because it makes me think it’s possible for Penelope to come back at any point. She’s worked for city hall, so any time there’s a disciplinary happening, she can come back and be put in charge of that.”

Tamzin Outhwaite [WENN]

This season will also feature several Canadian and international historical figures, including physician William Osler and author and political activist Helen Keller, as well as the return of artist Tom Thomson, U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and Alexander Graham Bell. Colin Mochrie and Elise Bauman will also have roles.

Outhwaite was invited to guest-star on Murdoch Mysteries a few years ago, but scheduling conflicts thwarted her appearance. This time, however, an unlucky accident in some ways proved lucky.

“It was perfect for me because I have a fractured metatarsal,” she says. “I was meant to be in a show in London’s West End, and I had to pull out of it. I suddenly had a whole summer of unemployment. So when this came along, as long as I didn’t have to be in high heels I could make it work.”

Playing a woman in the early 20th century proved to be a bit of a challenge, though.

“I’ve done corset work and period work on stage, but never on TV. So it was very interesting to maneuver a day’s filming in a corset with the amount of wonderful catering and food available. It was absolutely delicious and I found it hard to say no,” Outhwaite says.

“I’ve decided that it might be a good idea to wear a waist-shaper or Spanx generally, though, (on set). There’s a point where you have to stop eating, because it hurts.”

Murdoch Mysteries debuts season 11 on Monday, Sept. 25, CBC

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/murdoch-mysteries-returns-for-season-11-after-cliffhanger/feed1Murdoch Mysteriesmhank2012Tamzin OuthwaiteMore to discover with these Avalon river cruiseshttp://o.canada.com/travel/more-to-discover-with-these-avalon-river-cruises
http://o.canada.com/travel/more-to-discover-with-these-avalon-river-cruises#respondWed, 20 Sep 2017 20:02:32 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765316]]>If you sail all the way from Amsterdam to Budapest on Avalon Waterways (cruise.center/avalon) magnificent 15-day Magnificent Europe river cruise, you’ll cover five countries, three rivers, one canal, and 68 locks on a single voyage. That’s impressive.

I only joined the pretty, 166-guest Avalon Expression for half of that voyage, disembarking in Nuremberg, and I was still particularly pleased with the entire experience. I always feel a good measure of a cruise is a reluctance for the journey to end, and I certainly could have used another week of river cruising the Rhine, Main and Danube aboard Avalon Expression.

Following the successful introduction of its Active Discovery cruises on the Danube this season, Avalon is introducing its first Active Discovery cruises on the Rhine in 2018; eight-day sailings from Amsterdam to Frankfurt (Wiesbaden) or reverse. These new itineraries pack multiple ports of call into a single day, mixing big-name cities with smaller, off-the-beaten path locales.

On my sailing, Avalon previewed some of its Active Discovery excursions for us. Despite having been to many of these ports before, I found Avalon had something new and unique to show me in every port of call.

Avalon’s trademark wall-to-wall open air balconies ensure that the sights of Europe are never far from reach.

Some of these excursions were so-called “soft adventures” suitable for a wide range of people, like the off-the-beaten-path tour of Cologne, where we visited a local neighbourhood filled with hipster laundromats, cafés and beer halls.

Other tour options showcased on our voyage down to Nuremberg included a soft hike and wine tasting in the picturesque town of Rudesheim, famous for its boozy Rudesheimer Coffee of whipped cream and local Asbach Uralt brandy; and a guided cycling tour of medieval Bamberg.

Of course, Active Discovery isn’t all hiking and cycling through the countryside. In Amsterdam, I joined an afternoon painting class in the city’s fashionable Jordaan district.

I also appreciated that Avalon offers more than one optional tour excursion included in almost every port of call.

I’ve been on a lot of river cruises, but these Panorama Suites are noteworthy standouts. Instead of facing the wall, the ultra-comfortable beds are angled toward the open-air French balcony. A small sitting area near the giant mass of windows includes a small loveseat and a chair.

Like its contemporaries, Avalon Waterways is semi-inclusive. That means you can expect complimentary Lavazza coffee and specialty coffees throughout the day along with bottled water and tea. Beer, wine and soft drinks are free-of-charge with lunch and dinner, and drinks outside those hours come at a reasonable cost.

Guests on my sailing — a refreshing mix of Canadians, Australians, Brits and Americans — seemed to enjoy the nightlife aboard Avalon Expression: playing cards, socializing over cocktails, and listening to the nightly live music on offer each evening.

Service from the ship’s charming European crew was spot-on throughout. Avalon’s culinary director, Jörg Pennecke, summed it up best during my voyage to Nuremberg: “On the ocean, you are a number,” said Pennecke, who has had a 17-year maritime career on several high-profile ocean and river cruise lines. “On the river, you are a name.”

Happy (river) cruising.

Visit portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, http://www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com.

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/more-to-discover-with-these-avalon-river-cruises/feed0Ports and Bows Sept 24aaronpsaundersGlobal Voices: An ode to the shipping containerhttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-an-ode-to-the-shipping-container
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-an-ode-to-the-shipping-container#respondTue, 19 Sep 2017 06:46:53 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765281]]>While visiting Ghana a few years ago, some unusual kiosks caught the eye of Kevin Lee. Local vendors had cut windows and doors into abandoned shipping containers, and turned them into storefronts.

“Clothiers, butchers, hairdressers — each day families went into the container they rented to ply their trade,” recalls Lee, executive director of Scadding Court Community Centre in Toronto.

Lee returned home to the huge, deserted sidewalks surrounding his downtown community centre and had an epiphany. He called up Storstac, a company that up-cycles shipping containers, and had two retrofitted containers plonked down outside the centre on Dundas Street. He invited neighbourhood entrepreneurs — who couldn’t afford the astronomical cost for a brick-and-mortar Toronto storefront — to set up shop in the containers for less than $25 a day.

Seven years and 15 containers later, Scadding Court’s Market 707 is home to 23 businesses, many owned by new Canadians and refugees, in a thriving neighbourhood hub.

Market 707 is a creative new lease on life for these ubiquitous giants that would otherwise have gone to waste.

There are more than 17 million shipping containers around the world, bringing us avocados from Mexico and smartphones from China. Unfortunately, these prodigal crates rarely return home. It’s cheaper for manufacturers to build new containers for their goods than to send back old ones. Megatonnes of metal wind up rusting in dockyards. Like the vendors of Ghana, entrepreneurs are using shipping containers like huge Lego blocks — they can become anything.

Like the vendors of Ghana, entrepreneurs are using shipping containers like huge Lego blocks — they can become anything.

After Hurricane Harvey ravaged Houston, Texas, one local farmer’s crop withstood the blow. His storm-resistant hydroponic farm-in-a-box, made by Boston-based Freight Farms, provided fresh veggies for area residents.

Container homes have been a fad for years now, and not just for eccentric hipsters. Community organizations like Vancouver’s Atira Women’s Resource Society have found them a less-expensive option for social housing for marginalized and abused women.

Clinic in a Can, in Wichita, Kansas, turns old containers into mobile doctors’ offices, medical labs, and even fully equipped surgical units. The pods can be quickly deployed to natural disaster zones. Stick a bunch together and you have an instant hospital.

Now, aspiring container entrepreneurs beware: it’s not as easy as buying one and moving in.

Many containers have been treated with lead paint or harmful chemicals and must be cleaned. You’ll need doors, windows, insulation, and special equipment for certain uses. Up-cycling a container for stores, like in Market 707, can cost $20,000 to $30,000, says Storstac founder Anthony Ruggiero.

But it’s worth the investment.

Charging incredibly low rent, the Market 707 containers still paid for themselves in just three years, Lee tells us. And they’re creating economic opportunity in the community while generating revenue that funds Scadding Court’s recreation and after-school programs.

Mountains of old, rusted shipping containers are a monument to our insatiable desire for consumer goods and foods from abroad. Reincarnation means these metal boxes don’t go to waste.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

Big picture: At this point, Hollywood has me convinced that around 50 per cent of the planet’s population works for a secret intelligence agency. There’s just that damn many spies out there.

This Kingsman: The Secret Service sequel follows the exploits of an independent (fiction, right?) international intelligence service. This time around, Colin Firth and his espionage buddies team up with former ally, a secret American spy organization called The Statesman. To do what? Save the world, naturally. (Makes you really respect 007 for working solo all these years.)

Meanwhile, who knew those little tiny, colourful blocks — and choking hazards — you played with as a child would become a multi-film, mega franchise? This flick follows LEGO ninjas in the battle for Ninjago City.

Forecast: Ninjago has a solid foundation. Count on more amusing LEGO family fun.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery []

TV

Big event: Star Trek: Discovery (Sept. 24, CTV and Space).

Big picture: A new Trek is back on the small screen for the first time since Enterprise launched its aborted voyage in 2001. This one is set a decade before the exploits of Captain Kirk and Spock in the original series. Discovery will largely be told from the perspective of the ship’s first officer (The Walking Dead’s Sonequa Martin-Green), and will be far more serialized. However, don’t fret Trekkies; there will be plenty of the familiar. Spock’s father Sarek will be a series regular (played by James Frain), and Rainn Wilson inhabits the role of classic Trek villain Harry Mudd.

Moreover, there will still be some kind of alien/android/cyborg type character on the ship’s bridge learning what it means to be human. The CBS All Access series airs exclusively on Space in Canada after Week 1. Michelle Yeoh helms the ship as Captain Philippa Georgio.

Forecast: Set your phasers for success. Star Trek’s utopian vision of a humanity that has overcome prejudice, stupidity, warmongering, greed and environmental calamity is needed now more than ever. Trekkies will assemble … and hopefully recruit a new generation that only knows the films.

Honourable mention: Jerry Before Seinfeld (Sept. 19, Netflix); Gaga: Five Foot Two (Sept. 22, Netflix). A one-hour stand up special featuring the comedian’s oldest material, and a documentary on a year in the life of Gaga, (On a side note, I hope LEGO makes a movie about a LEGO city populated only by Lady Gagas. Gagapolis, anyone?)

Big picture: Wherever he may be, Mr. Brightside should be ecstatic. The Killers are back with album No. 5, while Van the Man is stilling rolling with the industry’s punches at album No. 37. The Killers track Tyson Vs. Douglas wins my award for most intriguing song title of the week. Not to be outdone is Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band’s new collection of epic instrumentals didn’t make my big releases, but the group wins most intriguing album title of the week for Luciferian Towers.

Forecast: Brandon Flowers and co. finally getting back in the studio together is wonderful, wonderful, indeed.

Honourable mention: Cold Specks. Ladan Hussein, known on stage as Cold Specks, is an ever-shining Canadian treasure.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/pop-forecast-for-sept-18-kingsman-sequel-star-trek-discovery/feed0Taron Egerton in Kingsman: The Golden Circlepostmedianews1STAR TREK: DISCOVERYBrandon Flowers of The Killers Raven-Symoné talks Raven’s Home, female friendshipshttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/raven-symone-talks-ravens-home-female-friendships
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/raven-symone-talks-ravens-home-female-friendships#respondFri, 15 Sep 2017 20:35:42 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765286]]>Strutting onto The Cosby Show in the ’80s with more sass than any three-year-old has a right to have, Raven-Symoné was a child star to be reckoned with. Fast-forward a couple decades, and she was starring on That’s So Raven, the hit Disney Channel kids series that aired from 2003 to 2007.

Now, after a three-season stint as a co-host on The View, it’s her who’s playing the parent on the second spinoff of That’s So Raven, Raven’s Home, which airs Fridays on Disney Channel.

Her grown-up character, Raven Baxter, is divorced and raising preteen twins while living with her childhood best friend Chelsea Daniels (Anneliese van der Pol) and her son. Kid-friendly shenanigans abound, with Raven still drawing on her psychic abilities and sheer pluck to navigate life.

Raven-Symoné spoke about revisiting Raven Baxter, the value of girl power and what she’s learned from verbally sparring with her co-hosts on The View.

Q: Raven and Chelsea’s relationship sends a powerful message about female friendship. Was that a conscious decision?

A: I love the fact that Raven and Chelsea are still best friends and they’re raising their kids together, because there is this stereotype of women not being able to come together, which is just ridiculous. We all have our moments that are hard, and not everyone’s going to agree on certain things, but it’s how you make up after you disagree that constitutes how long you can be friends.

Q: What did you learn from being on The View, and getting into some heated debates?

A: I learned that not everyone is going to agree, and that’s OK. Walking into The View, I was like, “This is what I believe and I’m going to stay strong in it.” And then following Twitter and Instagram, and being on the set with so many different opinions, I definitely learned to keep my mind open, keep my ears open. Stay true to who I am, but just respect others as much as possible, regardless of whether I agree or not. I think we get caught up in the subtext of “I’m right, I’m right, I’m right.” We’re all here, just trying to make the best of it as we can.

Q: Being a child star yourself, do you feel a kinship to kids on Raven’s Home?

A: Every day I try to teach them something that I’ve learned. This industry can be very difficult, especially for children. It’s always said, ‘Oh they’re kids, they’re immune to the industry.’ But I try to tell them all the time, ‘This is a job. Take your breaks, take your time to yourself because I don’t want you burned out.’

Q: How do you look back on The Cosby Show now?

A: If it wasn’t for The Cosby Show, I wouldn’be be where I am today. I wouldn’t have the information that I have to pass on to others. And I thank Mr. Cosby for allowing me to be a part of his show. I also thank Mark Curry for letting me be a part of his show (Hanging With Mr. Cooper). There are people over the years that believed in me and let me learn from them on set while entertaining people. This is a family industry, ultimately. As you go from set to set, you learn.

Raven’s Home airs Fridays on Disney Channel

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/raven-symone-talks-ravens-home-female-friendships/feed0Raven-Symonémhank2012Raven’s HomeJessica Biel reinvents herself with The Sinnerhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/jessica-biel-reinvents-herself-with-the-sinner
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/jessica-biel-reinvents-herself-with-the-sinner#respondFri, 15 Sep 2017 19:40:01 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765272]]>Jessica Biel has more in common with the murderer she plays in the miniseries The Sinner than you’d think. No, she hasn’t stabbed someone to death for unexplained reasons. And she doesn’t have memories of creepy ski masks and psychosexual horror.

The connections are more universal, ones that let the actress finally — finally! — explore the inky depths of emotion and trauma onscreen for the first time.

Her character, Cora Tannetti, grew up under the thumb of a religious zealot of a mother. Something long-buried in her past caused her to kill, and over eight episodes the tale unravels. The series airs Mondays on Showcase, and back episodes are available On Demand.

“Growing up, my family was not like that at all but I can understand that feeling (of not being able to escape a situation). I’ve had that feeling at work, in my professional life before. I’ve had that feeling in relationships before,” Biel says.

“And I think Cora and I both have a people-pleasing quality. She lets herself be taken advantage of to make someone else feel comfortable, and I have a similar tendency. It’s embarrassing to say, but I do. That’s something that I have been struggling with and will struggle with all my life, probably.”

Jessica Biel in The Sinner [Peter Kramer/USA Network]

Wearing makeup so understated it might as well be a whisper, Biel embodies the bleak, moody tone of the show. Her portrayal is striking: Until now, she’s been known for starring in several paint-by-numbers action films, and fuzzy-wuzzy-feeling rom-coms. (A selected resumé: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre film reboot, The A-Team film reboot, Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve.)

Plus, celebrity buzz tends to fixate on the fact she’s married to singer Justin Timberlake, with whom she has a child. Thus The Sinner, based on the like-named book by Petra Hammesfahr, offered her a chance to reinvent herself. And she went all-in — Biel is also an executive producer.

“This is the kind of thing that I’ve been wanting to do for years, and for whatever reason someone else gets the part, or I don’t have the international appeal, or whatever the reason is. I just feel that I’ve been very unlucky with the things I wanted to do professionally in some cases.

“I’ve had a great career and worked with amazing people, and I’m not ashamed of my career or anything that I’ve done. I’ve just always had this interest, so it’s funny that just now, so many years into my career, that I’m doing something like this.”

So far on The Sinner, Det. Ambrose (Bill Pullman) has become obsessed with uncovering Cora’s buried motive for murder — borderline uncomfortably so. Flashbacks layered inside flashbacks have revealed memories of a country club where not-so-good things went down. In Monday’s episode a new character, Det. Farmer (Joanna Adler), arrives to shake things up after a chilling discovery in the woods.

Jessica Biel in The Sinner [Peter Kramer/USA Network]

“Farmer comes in and has the opposite take on this situation with Cora, and she wants to close this case. She thinks Ambrose has got too close to this case, that even maybe something’s happened between him and Cora that’s inappropriate. Or that he’s not thinking clearly. She really is a thorn in his side.”

In later episodes, the plot delves into even darker crevices and one particularly raunchy, drug-fuelled scene made headlines when it aired this week on American broadcaster USA Network. It’s a long way from Biel’s first — and last — starring TV role, playing eldest daughter Mary Camden on the feel-good series 7th Heaven from 1996 to 2007.

“7th Heaven is where I learned so much as an actor. I learned how to interact with the camera and crew, the director of photography, lighting, other actors. I look back at it with intense fondness and a wistful grin.

“I mean, I was terrible. If you go back and watch those episodes, I’m bad. I’m not good … It was the first thing that I’ve ever done, so I don’t know who I am … I just look back at it with an open heart and want to hug it and squeeze it, remember how much fun it was, and how lovely everybody was,” she says.

“(Now I’m) playing such a psychologically complicated woman who is unreliable, even to herself. What an opportunity to get behind something like this and be able to get the pieces together as an executive-producer – to get the right writer, the right director of photography, the right actors, be part of all of those elements. That was a real score for me.”

The Sinner airs Mondays on Showcase

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/jessica-biel-reinvents-herself-with-the-sinner/feed0The Sinner - Season 1mhank2012The Sinner - Season 1The Sinner - Season 1Viking rolls out European river, ocean cruise comboshttp://o.canada.com/travel/viking-rolls-out-european-river-ocean-cruise-combos
http://o.canada.com/travel/viking-rolls-out-european-river-ocean-cruise-combos#respondThu, 14 Sep 2017 17:09:58 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765264]]>I’ll just put it out there: I love river cruising. Despite not being in the standard 50-something demographic that most lines target, I think river cruises are one of the best ways to explore Europe in comfort.

Much like ocean cruising, a river cruise takes you to a number of different places over the course of a week or two, with no need to worry about hotel transfers, early wake-up calls, or any of the other hassles of land-based touring.

You unpack once, and let the ship and its crew do the rest.

Now, Viking River Cruises (cruise.center/vikingriver) is offering guests the chance to combine a river cruise on its award-winning Viking Longships with an ocean cruise on its equally award-winning fleet of cruise ships, creating a single itinerary that explores Europe by river and ocean.

Viking is only offering two of these ocean and river journeys next year, so I probably don’t have to tell you that it’s best to book early.

The first of these voyages is a 15-day Rhine & Viking Shores & Fjords voyage that departs on June 30, 2018, in Basel, Switzerland and travels all the way to Bergen, Norway.

Sailing aboard Viking Longship Alruna, guests spend seven days cruising the Rhine, with ports of call in France, Germany and finally the Netherlands. On July 7, Viking Alruna will arrive in Amsterdam, where guests will disembark and make their way over to the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam — literally right next door to the city’s main river cruise berth. There, they’ll embark on the 930-guest Viking Sun for a weeklong journey through Norway. Viking Sun calls on Skagen, Denmark, before spending the bulk of its time in Norway, stopping at Oslo, Kristiansand, Stavanger and Flam before arriving in Bergen.

The second river and ocean combination cruise that Viking is offering for 2018 is the 18-day Rhine and Amsterdam to Catalonia. This one departs Sept. 29 of next year from Basel, Switzerland, and cruises up the Rhine, stopping along the way at Breisach, Germany; Strasbourg, France; Heidelberg, Koblenz, and Cologne, Germany; and Kinderdijk, Netherlands, which is home to some of the best preserved windmills in that country.

Once again, guests swap ships in Amsterdam, trading their cosy Viking Longship for one of Viking’s beautiful new oceangoing ships. From Amsterdam, guests sail south along the western coast of Europe, stopping in Le Havre, France (for Paris); Portsmouth, England; Vigo, Malaga (for Granada) and Murcia (for Cartagena), Spain, before arriving in Barcelona.

Not only does Viking handle the logistics of these special itineraries, but they’re also a great value for those who want to take an ocean cruise and a river cruise without the hassle of trying to find two separate itineraries that somehow magically align. It’s also a great way to save on airfare: two trips, one flight ticket.

If you can’t swing the time it takes to do both, Viking has a full lineup of exciting river and ocean cruises for 2018. I’ve been sailing with the line for five years and am continually impressed with the little touches and niceties that Viking puts not only into the design of its ships (which are, to be frank, absolutely stunning), but also in terms of its programming onboard and ashore.

On both its river and ocean ships, Viking includes at least one shore excursion free of charge.

Internet access is free of charge across its ocean and river fleets, and both offer up complimentary beer, wine and soft drinks with lunch and dinner.

Viking also introduced a ridiculously affordable beverage package, known as Silver Spirit, that offers up complimentary beverages throughout the day for a nominal fee.

The real thing that keeps me recommending Viking to nearly everyone I meet, though, is the crews of its river and ocean vessels. Viking has done an excellent job of culling the best of the best from all over the world, so don’t be surprised if you run into some of your favourite staff from other lines that have made the switch to Viking.

If you’ve been trying to decide between a river or an ocean cruise for next year, these two Viking itineraries let you have your cake and eat it, too.

Happy cruising.

Visit portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry.
You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at
portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com.

“Some people go, some people stay,” writes S. E. Hinton in Tex, one of her best known novels about teens growing up in Tulsa. That life-defining choice is faced by teens in three forthcoming YA novels.

The Agony of Bun O’Keefe

Heather Smith

Penguin Teen Canada

Fourteen-year-old Bun O’Keefe feels she has no choice but to go after her mother yells at her, “Go on! Get Out!” in Heather Smith’s second YA novel set in 1986 Newfoundland where Smith was raised.

For Bun, her mother’s hateful words are an essential shove out of what is more a hoarder’s warehouse than home. Her obese mother has kept Bun virtually a prisoner in solitary confinement since Bun’s father fled the chaos. Bun’s only companionship and links to the outside world are the VHS tapes and books she has home-schooled herself with.

She hitchhikes to St. John’s, where she is befriended and nurtured by Busker Boy, an Innu street musician and his friends with whom he lives in a rooming house — Chris/Cher, a former medical student now a drag queen, Big Eyes, a runaway Catholic schoolgirl, and Chef, a dishwasher with dreams of becoming a chef. Smith’s dramedy portrays how Bun’s new friends, like herself, have no choice but to work toward self-preservation and self-respect.

Smith convincingly blends all sides of the disarming Bun, who can be as comically literal-minded and naïve as Forrest Gump, and as appreciatively wondrous and imaginative as Jack in Emma Donahue’s Room, out in the world for the first time and yet intuitively insightful.

Smith’s tenderly comic and poignant novel dramatizes how getting out and carrying on, becoming better, takes courage and faith and a recognition of the similar struggles of others to do likewise.

Munro Vs. The Coyote

Darren Groth

Orca Book Publishers

Munro Maddox hopes by going to Brisbane on a student exchange program he can leave behind in Vancouver his feelings of grief and the tormenting voice in his head, nicknamed “the Coyote” by his therapist.

Groth’s latest novel is an exceptionally fine counterpoint to his previous YA novel Are You Seeing Me. Here, the caregiving sibling is Munro, who takes his role and responsibilities as protective older brother of Evie, born with Down’s syndrome and a heart defect, with all-consuming seriousness. When she collapsed while walking beside him, and the CPR he performed couldn’t save her, he can’t forgive himself.

Groth, a former special education teacher and a father of a son with ASP, writes with knowledge, compassion, maturity of vision and piercing humour. His characters, created with warmth and depth — from major to minor — are idiosyncratic and lively.

It is Groth’s deft evocation of Munro’s self-aware narration and the voices in his head – his warring dialogue with the Coyote and the Coyote’s brutally honest, weaponized truths, and his mournful inner monologue addressed to Evie — that powerfully propels the novel.

The Mosaic

Nina Berkhout

Groundwood Books

On the first page of Nina Berkhout’s debut YA novel The Mosaic, narrator Twyla Jane Lee announces her “only goal was to get out of Halo.” Twyla, the daughter of an alcoholic father and mother with artistic ambitions but no talent, aims to escape them both, and most of all, Halo, a dying farm community in Montana.

To graduate from high school, Twyla needs to fulfill her community service duties. She and her boyfriend Billy are assigned to help a vet, Gabriel Finch, a marine with PTSD who spends his time in a decommissioned silo on his family’s farmland. Twyla becomes determined to help Gabriel once she sees he is creating a silo-sized mosaic of the ancient Iraq city of Uruk, a paradise he witnessed being lost to war.

The setting and premise, while fresh and rife with drama and significance, are underdeveloped, as are the book’s primary and secondary characters and life in Halo in general.

Readers share Twyla’s growing fascination with the idealized, brooding Gabriel and his desire for reparation through creation. Any growth Twyla achieves, however, is undermined by the summary coda of her adult life in which she briefly mentions Gabriel’s sad fate in throwaway aside and her narcissistic A Letter to Myself that cloyingly concludes the novel.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/books/new-ya-novels-explore-leaving-home/feed0ya bookspostmedianews1Global Voices: Volunteering a way to ease worried students’ mindshttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-volunteering-a-way-to-ease-worried-students-minds
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-volunteering-a-way-to-ease-worried-students-minds#respondTue, 12 Sep 2017 06:34:23 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765201]]>Across the country, students are starting high school and facing life’s biggest questions: Where’s my locker? Do I know anyone in homeroom? What is that grey stuff on my cafeteria tray?

And they’re getting very stressed out.

With unfamiliar environments, heavier workloads and social challenges, the transition from elementary school to high school is rough. When 800 new high schoolers rated their feelings of anxiety on a scale of one to 10, one-quarter said seven or more — indicating serious stress. Disturbingly, these anxiety-ridden youth were the most likely to cut classes, start smoking, or even engage in self-harm, according to McGill University researcher Dr. Nancy Heath, who studied the students for three years.

Forget fidget spinners. There’s a better cure for high school worry: volunteering.

Parents are already struggling with over-scheduled kids, but the mental health benefits of this particular after-school activity are well established — and worth the effort.

“There’s clear evidence that doing something for others can help people manage stress,” says Heath.

The biggest benefit is connecting with new people. High school is a social minefield. In Grade 9, elementary school cliques break up. Teens struggling to find new friends can feel isolated and rejected. They need a backup social scene outside the classroom, Heath suggests. “Volunteering and getting involved gives a sense of community and belonging,” she says.

Team sports and some hobbies are social, but they can’t match the other benefits of volunteering.

Young volunteers connect with like-minded mentors, who are role models for not just a skill, but also for altruistic behaviour.

Serving food in a soup kitchen or chatting with folks in a seniors’ home forces a teen to focus on the needs of others.

Serving food in a soup kitchen or chatting with folks in a seniors’ home forces a teen to focus on the needs of others, instead of fretting over their own worries. It broadens their outlook beyond themselves, and promotes feelings of gratitude — which science has shown is good for your health.

Volunteering can help students unwind as they focus on the immediate needs of others, instead of their own anxieties, helping them build both perspective and empathy, a trait that doctors say is powerful de-stressor.

Confidence takes a real beating in Grade 9, as youth find themselves back at the bottom of the social ladder. Good self-esteem is the best defence for surviving the transition, says Greg Lubimiv, executive director of the Phoenix Centre, a youth counselling agency in Ontario’s Renfrew County.

We’ve found that, among youth who volunteer through our service programs, 61 per cent of report feeling increased self-esteem. They’re 1.3 times more likely to have a strong sense of self than their peers, and are more comfortable adapting to change, according to an independent study by research firm Mission Measurement.

Stress doesn’t have to be entirely bad, Heath notes. It can be an opportunity to overcome challenges which builds resiliency. Volunteering helps teens cope, build leadership skills and, of course, start a lifelong habit of giving back.

This fall, encourage the new high school student in your house to find a cause they’re passionate about and get involved. It won’t help them find their locker, but it will ease the stress.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of theWE movement,which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

]]>http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-volunteering-a-way-to-ease-worried-students-minds/feed0Students volunteeringcraigkielburgerViceland series Beerland seeks best home brewershttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/viceland-series-beerland-seeks-best-home-brewers
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/viceland-series-beerland-seeks-best-home-brewers#respondMon, 11 Sep 2017 20:58:37 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765229]]>Name a TV show Beerland and you’re pretty much guaranteed an audience. For a certain segment of the population it’s automatically more appealing than something called Tofu Town or Brussels Sprouts City.

But Meg Gill, who hosts Viceland’s beer-based travel competition Beerland, isn’t relying on first impressions to get viewers all hopped up. Over six episodes, the co-founder of Golden Road Brewing searches for the best home brewers in the U.S. and explores beer’s role in their communities.

After hitting up sites in New Mexico, New York, Colorado, Hawaii, Los Angeles and Northern California, Gill decides who’ll win a brewing and distribution deal with her company. The series, which premièred in April, is available to stream on viceland.com.

Gill, who was named by Forbes as the youngest female brewery owner in the U.S. in 2015, spoke with Postmedia News about Beerland:

Q: Before focusing on beer, you were a professional swimmer. Why switch careers?

A: You can’t make a lot of money as a professional swimmer. I was Olympic trial qualifying, but I wasn’t going to make the Olympic team. So I took an unpaid internship working for Oskar Blues Brewery in Colorado just to get my foot in the door. I felt like beer was the Everyman’s drink, the Everywoman’s drink. I fell in love with the industry, was passionate about the first craft beer in a can, wanted to do what I loved and didn’t want to take the traditional path of “get up and go to an office each day.”

Q: Do you remember first beer you ever drank?

A: I was basically a toddler going down to get my mom’s beer when she’d cook dinner, and she’d let me have the first sip if I went down to the basement to get it for her. Those were some of my first memories and best memories early in life, spending time with my mom. But she moved on from Coors Light pretty early on. Then she was drinking Corona and now she would die if she heard that, because now she only drinks double IPA.

Q: What do you look for as a judge on the show?

A: I look at whether they executed their vision. It doesn’t have to be a certain style or follow any kind of technical brewing process. But if they’re making a Session IPA, then I expect that the dry hops and aroma are going to be really spectacular. Also, are they passionate about this? Do they want to start a brewery someday?

I felt like beer was the Everyman’s drink, the Everywoman’s drink.

Q: What were some regional differences that stood out for you?

A: A lot of these brewers like to use somewhat local ingredients. One guy in New York was brewing with all wild yeast and found his yeast on a log in Brooklyn. And he’s an anarchist who doesn’t want to pay government tax on beer, and that’s why he’s brewing. In New Mexico, the winner brewed with a wild hop that he found that is unique to New Mexico — it’s called Neomexicanus.

In Hawaii, one of the groups wanted to do a coconut beer, but a light, refreshing take on a coconut beer instead of a porter or stout, because they were inspired by the tropical Hawaiian lifestyle and environment. They’re definitely impacted by their surroundings and ingredients, and that definitely gives these guys a competitive edge.

Q: Is home brewing growing as a trend?

A: I think it’s still pretty underdeveloped as a known thing that people do. Most people know someone who has tried to brew beer at home before, but it’s definitely an underserved market. And the folks who do it are extremely passionate about it and have great stories.

Q: What are some of the misconceptions about home brewing?

A: I think home brewers are typically thought of as older dudes, a loner type at home in their garages or basements brewing beer — and there is a lot of that. But there are also younger people, women, of all backgrounds who have fallen in love with the process of brewing beer and the creative activity that it offers.

Q: What’s your advice for someone looking to get into it?

A: First, either go to a local homebrew club, a homebrew shop or read a couple great books about starting. Know what equipment you have at home, what you can jury-rig and what you need to buy. The ingredients are pretty simple, but they need to be fresh — especially the hops. Start with more traditional styles, and if you’re looking to do something with additives — whether it’s fruits or chocolates or whatever — that can come down the road a little bit. You’re going to learn from your mistakes — it happens to professional brewers all the time.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/viceland-series-beerland-seeks-best-home-brewers/feed0Beerlandmhank2012Fall TV preview 2017http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/fall-tv-preview-2017
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/fall-tv-preview-2017#respondMon, 11 Sep 2017 20:45:15 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765215]]>With great debt to The Sound of Music, this fall TV season’s screening choices may best be summed up with a song to the tune of My Favourite Things. Sing along in your head (and we won’t tell anyone if you prance along like Julie Andrews while you’re doing it).

Ready? Tablets and TVs and laptops and Netflix … Apple TV will sure get you your screen fix. CraveTV, Crackle and what mobile phones bring … These are a few of my favourite things.

Fun, right? And that’s not even including Acorn TV, Shudder and Amazon Prime Video.

But with myriad platforms come myriad shows to choose from. And while you might be perfectly happy following old favourites, there are plenty of new series worthy of your time — no matter what your preferences are.

Some suggestions that will have you clicking and streaming your way into fall:

Seth MacFarlane created and stars in this dramedy inspired by the Star Trek franchise, probably because he really, really loves the Star Trek franchise. He plays a guy who finally gets to command his own ship — but the First Officer assigned to him is his ex-wife. Moves to Thursdays beginning Sept. 21.

Star Trek: Discovery (Sept. 24, CTV/Space/CBS)

Are you sensing a trend yet? Set 10 years before the adventures of Kirk and Spock, this series follows a new ship, new characters and new mission. Starring Sonequa Martin-Green, Jason Isaacs, Doug Jones and Shazad Latif. Immediately after the debut, the second episode airs in Canada only on Space, which will broadcast all subsequent instalments.

Ghosted (Oct. 1, City/Fox)

Think of it as a funnier X-Files. Craig Robinson and Adam Scott star as a skeptic and a believer who must investigate the paranormal in order to save the Earth from aliens. The series was a hot property during pilot season.

The Gifted (Oct. 2, CTV/Fox)

Based on the Marvel Comics X-Men franchise, The Gifted stars Stephen Moyer and Amy Acker as parents who discover that their two kids have mutant abilities. Dogged by a hostile government, they find themselves on the run and soon link up with an underground network of mutants.

The Vietnam War is the latest documentary by Ken Burns [PBS]

IF YOU LIKE: NON-FICTION

The Vietnam War (Sept. 17, PBS)

Director Ken Burns, master of documentaries and pride of PBS, teams up with Lynn Novick for this 10-part documentary series that airs Sundays through Thursdays. Ten years in the making, it features interviews with nearly 80 witnesses from both sides of the conflict.

Jerry Before Seinfeld (Sept. 19, Netflix)

With a deal that includes two standup specials and 24 new episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, Jerry Seinfeld is the peanut butter to Netflix’s jelly. Or the puffy shirt to its yada-yada-yada. Or something like that. In the first special, Seinfeld returns to the club where he got his start in the 1970s, mixing Seinfeld-ian jokes with stories from his childhood and career.

Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders (Sept. 26, Global/NBC)

Edie Falco stars in this new eight-part instalment of the Law & Order franchise, delving into the Menendez brothers’ 1989 killing of their parents and the high-profile 1994 trial in which they were found guilty.

The Great Canadian Baking Show (Nov. 1, CBC)

It’s the homegrown version of the hit British competition series. Ten amateur bakers from across Canada try to avoid soggy bottoms on this side of the Atlantic. Hosted by Dan Levy and Julia Chan.

Fresh off a stint on Saturday Night Live, Bobby Moynihan stars in this well-reviewed comedy that looks at three distinct periods in a man’s life. Moynihan plays 40-year-old Alex Riley, while Jack Dylan Grazer is Alex at 14, and John Larroquette is Alex at 65.

Young Sheldon (Sept. 25, CTV/CBS)

In a bid to keep Big Bang Theory-related series on the air indefinitely — or at least until syndication deals run out — CBS launches this prequel set in 1989 and following a nine-year-old Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage). Jim Parsons, who plays Sheldon in the original show, will narrate.

Will & Grace (Sept. 28, Global/NBC)

The gang’s all here! Will (Eric McCormack), Grace (Debra Messing), Karen (Megan Mullally) and Jack (Sean Hayes) pick up where they left off in 2006 — well, kind of. The revived series will pretend the finale never happened, erasing Will and Grace’s husbands and kids from history.

Big Mouth (Sept. 29, Netflix)

Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg co-created this raunchy animated comedy about two best friends who are going through that gloriously awkward trek through hell we call puberty. Maya Rudolph, Jordan Peele, Fred Armisen, Jenny Slate, John Mulaney and Jessi Klein all voice characters.

It’s a parade of elite crime-busting teams doing elite crime-busting stuff! In The Brave, Anne Heche and Mike Vogel execute missions around the globe. David Boreanaz plays a commander in SEAL Team, and Shemar Moore headlines S.W.A.T., a reboot of the like-named 1970s series.

Ten Days in the Valley (Oct. 1, CTV/ABC)

The always-solid Kyra Sedgwick stars as the showrunner of a TV crime drama whose daughter is abducted in the middle of the night. Written by Rookie Blue creator Tassie Cameron, the 10 episodes cover 10 days. Kick Gurry, Erika Christensen and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje co-star.

The Disappearance (Oct. 1, CTV)

This homegrown family drama starring Peter Coyote and Aden Young unfolds over six episodes. The Sullivan family suffers a tragic event and they find themselves banding together to solve the puzzle that has uprooted their lives.

Mindhunter (Oct. 13, Netflix)

David Fincher’s 10-episode drama is set in 1979 and follows two FBI agents in the serial crime unit, Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany). Based on the 1996 book Mind Hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, by John Douglas and Mark Olshaker.

Alias Grace (Nov. 3, CBC)

Everything’s coming up Margaret Atwood! Not to be outdone by the writer’s 1985 novel The Handmaid’s Tale — which became a hit series earlier this year — Atwood’s 1996 novel Alias Grace heads to screens as well. Told over six parts, it’s inspired by the true story of Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon), a servant in Upper Canada who — along with stable hand James McDermott (Kerr Logan) — was convicted of the 1843 murders of her employer and his housekeeper. Written and produced by Sarah Polley and co-starring Anna Paquin.

Grant Show and Nathalie Kelley in Dynasty []

IF YOU LIKE: DRAMA

The Good Doctor (Sept. 25, CTV/ABC)

David Shore and Daniel Dae Kim developed this medical series based on the 2013 South Korean series of the same name. Freddie Highmore plays as Shaun Murphy, a young pediatric surgeon with autism and savant syndrome. Antonia Thomas, Nicholas Gonzalez and Chuku Modu also star.

Dynasty (Oct. 11, The CW)

Yes, Dynasty. As in the 1980s soap opera where the shoulder pads and hairstyles were just as big as the drama. Gossip Girl executive producers Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage reteam for this reboot starring Grant Show as Blake Carrington, Nathalie Kelley as Cristal Flores (reimagined from the original’s Krystle Carrington), Elizabeth Gillies as Blake’s daughter and James Mackay as his son. The character Alexis, originally played by Joan Collins, will return at some point.

Godless (Nov. 22, Netflix)

Steven Soderbergh’s seven-part western stars Jeff Daniels as notorious criminal Frank Griffin, who is bent on getting revenge against Roy Goode (Jack O’Connell), who betrayed Griffin and his men. Michelle Dockery of Downton Abbey also stars.

The Deuce (premièred Sept. 10, HBO)

It’s the surprisingly heartfelt story of the rise of porn and prostitution in Times Square, set in the 1970s and 1980s. Created by The Wire’s David Simon and George Pelecanos, it stars Maggie Gyllenhaal as a streetwalker and James Franco as twins — a bar manager and a gambling addict — along with a sprawling cast that brings life to mobsters, drug dealers and other sundry characters.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/fall-tv-preview-2017/feed0STAR TREK: DISCOVERYmhank2012The Vietnam WarWill & GraceAlias GraceGrant Show and Nathalie Kelley in Dynasty5 stunning Banff-and-area sights in 24 hourshttp://o.canada.com/travel/5-stunning-banff-and-area-sights-in-24-hours
http://o.canada.com/travel/5-stunning-banff-and-area-sights-in-24-hours#respondMon, 11 Sep 2017 19:58:55 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765206]]>It’s no secret Banff is a tourist haven. So you can imagine how busy it is this year, given Canada’s 150th anniversary and the fact that National Park passes are free.

But that doesn’t mean your family should avoid the Alberta hot spot.

One night’s stay — and a game plan — are all you need to soak in the area’s most stunning sights, as Lindsey Ward’s family learned on a recent visit.

Day 1, 5 p.m.: Banff Gondola

Dinner time is the best time to hit up the Banff Gondola if you want to beat the crowds. And it’s not like you’ll starve; the newly renovated complex at the top of Sulphur Mountain has both a casual café and a licensed bistro. Our boys, 5 and 3, loved comparing their little paws to a grizzly bear’s at the new interpretive centre. After that, we took an additional one-kilometre boardwalk (consisting of endless, albeit kid-friendly, staircases) to the old stomping grounds of park meteorologist Norman Sanson, who climbed Sulphur every week for 30 years to check the weather and, presumably, take in the jaw-dropping views of the Banff town site and its six surrounding mountain ranges. Tip: Pre-purchase tickets online so you can bypass the box office lineup. Bonus: Kids five and under ride free.

As soon as we reached the top of Moraine Lake’s aptly named Rockpile Trail, we saw what was worth getting up at 5 a.m. for: Ten snow-capped mountains towering over a glacial lake in a startlingly bold shade of turquoise. This Valley of the Ten Peaks image is the same one they used on the back of the 1969 and 1979 Canadian $20 bills. Why so early, though? Despite being one of Canada’s most popular natural gems, Moraine Lake (a 40-minute drive from Banff) has a small parking lot. Once the lot and surrounding roadways are full, around 7:30 a.m., the Park barricades the access road. During the summer, your chances of being one of the lucky few to get waved through between then and 7 p.m. are slim. So plan accordingly. Tip: The Tim Hortons in Banff opens at 6 a.m. Bonus: Admission is free, and Moraine’s Rockpile and Lakeshore trails are short, easy hikes that allow the whole fam to bask in the view.

10:30 a.m.: Lake Louise

You can’t return from Banff National Park without a photo of Lake Louise. That’s like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. There’s something so enchanting about the world-famous lake (about 30 minutes from Banff). The sight of the glistening turquoise water nestled beneath the high peaks surrounding the Victoria Glacier, all overlooked by the palatial Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise brings the world to a standstill. We failed to get a spot in the parking lot (peak hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m.), but scored a makeshift space off the Trans-Canada Highway and hiked a hilly path that runs parallel to the road. Tip: Ditch the selfie stick for a photo taken by a fellow tourist. Bonus: Again, no admission fees, so you might be willing to splurge on a $105-per-hour canoe ride.

Castle Mountain, between Banff and Lake Louise, Alta., is a royal beauty. [Chris Bruneau/For Postmedia News]

1 p.m.: Takakkaw Falls

Once you’re in Lake Louise, you might as well travel an extra 40 minutes into B.C.’s Yoho National Park to see Takakkaw Falls. You won’t regret it — unless you’re driving a motor home, in which case you should avoid the narrow road to the Falls, which includes a switchback. But it’s worth every hairpin. Takakkaw (tak-ah-kaw, meaning “it is magnificent” in Cree) Falls plunge from a height of 380 metres, but are surprisingly accessible. It wasn’t as busy there, and we were able to get a spot in the parking lot midday, mid-August. A short, well-maintained trail got us right to the base of the Falls (next time, we’ll bring a raincoat). And my brave husband and older son even climbed partway up the mountain for a closer look. Tip: The avalanche-prone road is closed from October-June. Bonus: Guess what? It’s free!

4 p.m.: Castle Mountain/town of Banff

While it’s not a tourist attraction per se, you can’t help but oogle Castle Mountain as you head down Highway 1 between Lake Louise and Banff. Especially late in the day, when the sun casts an apricot glow over its distinctive peaks. Castle Mountain is located near the remains of a 19th-century mining settlement and a First World War prison camp — and it’s also close to the Banff townsite, which was a good thing for us at the time, since we were famished. Tip: Barpa Bill’s hearty Barpa Burger (loved by locals for its tzatziki topping), battered fish and homecut fries for the kids hit the spot. Bonus: Cookies and cream-topped pastry and gelato from BeaverTails gave us our final rush of the day.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Sept. 15: American Assassin; Mother!.

Big picture: American Assassin is about an irreverent, rule-breaking spy who must stop another rule-breaking operative who has jumped the shark. Michael Keaton plays their badass CIA trainer — an old guy who can take down his juniors in the blink of an all-knowing eye and arm twist. (It’s nice to see all that Batman training is still working out for him nearly 30 years later.) Straight from today’s news headlines, the stakes of their espionage game are raised by weapons-grad plutonium. Get ready for a hand-to-hand fight scene on a battle cruiser being hit by tsunami waves.

Mother! Sure, that’s a scary word for some of us. However, it’s a tool for thrills in the twisted mind of director Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan). Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem play a seemingly loving couple whose world begins to crumble when they receive the house guests from hell. Cue the appearance of random bloodstains, the thumping of walls that contain terrible secrets and the occasional flashlight wielding mob.

“All I am trying to do is bring life into this house,” snarls the increasingly unhinged husband while his wife begins to suspect he is a madman. Is the house of horrors all in her head? Is her spouse some kind of Dr. Frankenstein? Is the home an outpost in West World?

Big picture: The true-crime genre is spoofed in this eight-episode satire about a slacker high school senior’s “alleged” involvement in a school prank: the drawing of phallic images on faculty cars. The words betrayal, conspiracy, coverup and corruption are soon thrown around wildly. Expect clichéd lines like “I know I didn’t do it,” “Everyone’s got secrets” and “They got the wrong guy” to be milked for maximum comic effect.

Meanwhile, the Tonight Show’s Stephen Colbert hosts the Emmy Awards, which he was won nine times. Expect a lot of Trump jokes. Colbert is No. 1 on late night largely because Trump’s election meant he no longer had to cage his political opinions — because he has three quarters of America as a willing fan base for Donald dissing.

Forecast: One day, people will barely remember what TV was — let alone the Emmys. Enjoy the spotlight while you can, Stephen.

Big picture: Listen to the rollicking single Time’s Always Leaving without smiling and bobbing your head. I dare you. The Lone Bellow sounds like Van Morrison meets Paul Simon meets modern Americana. Meanwhile, Concrete and Gold is the Foo’s ninth album, and first since 2014. With songs titled T-Shirt, Run and La Dee Da, maybe frontman David Grohl should have spent more time on song titles? Notably, Paul McCartney guest drums and Alison Mosshart guest vocals. Grohl has helpfully described Concrete and Gold as a “Motorhead’s version of Sgt. Pepper.”

Honourable mention: Ringo Starr (Give More Love). Speaking of Sgt. Pepper, the 77-year-old Star has a new album. From the title, it looks like he’s still dying to move out of the basement as fourth favourite Beatle. McCartney — clearly a busy man — shows up on bass for one track.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Sept. 8: Home Again; It.

Big picture: Home Again is a dramedy about the newly separated, neurotic (but obviously endearing) Alice (Reese Witherspoon), who starts a new life in L.A. with her two young daughters by allowing three strangers and aspirin, male filmmakers — of varying ages and charm — to live in their new house. Most of said men proceed to promptly fall in love with Alice, sleep with her … or wish that they had. When her ex-husband (Michael Sheen) re-enters the picture, the foundations of her new world get rocky. This is the kind of movie for people who want to watch Alice say annoying (but obviously endearing) things like, “I always act out on my birthday. It’s like my own personal New Year’s Eve.”

I predict the twist will be that her husband is secretly a grown-up Kevin from the Home Alone franchise, and he wins her back by setting up elaborate booby traps for the filmmakers residing under his ex’s roof.

Meanwhile, the film It is Goonies meets Stand by Me meets … the funhouse ride from hell. From the mind of author Stephen King, it crosses that fine line where childhood wonder meets childhood terror. When children begin to vanish in the town of Derry, Maine, a rag-tag group of young misfits faceoff against a villainous, ancient clown named Pennywise who can literally bring their fears to life. Of course, the ancient evil lives in a lair deep underneath the town. (As if you needed another reason not to take up spelunking).

Forecast: After The Dark Tower proved structurally flawed, It gets a King adaptation right. You’ll never look at a red balloon the same way again.

Big picture: It’s not a good week for those with coulrophobia. Clowns are everywhere (and I’m not even counting the White House). The new season of American Horror Story has political themes and takes its jumping off point from the election of Donald Trump. As one character intones, “If you get people scared enough, they will set the world on fire.” Hmmmm. That could double as the epitaph for the 2016 presidential election.

Returning cast members in the anthology horror-drama include Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters (as a dangerous cult leader) and Frances Conroy. An evil clown — and all matter of nut jobs — pop up throughout Cult to convey an America that has become unhinged (the series is akin to someone filming David Lynch’s subconscious).

Meanwhile, The Deuce is the latest HBO drama from David Simon (The Wire, Treme) — this time focused on New York’s porn industry in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. James Franco (playing twins) and Maggie Gyllenhaal are among the ensemble cast. It’s Motown meets Boogie Nights.

Forecast: This cult is worth following.

Honourable mention: The Orville (Sept. 10, Fox/City). An inspired sci-fi comedy spoofing Star Trek from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The hour-long show finds no galaxy-class Enterprise in sight, but is set on a D-list exploratory vessel named Orville. The crew is barely functional. “The universe has a crew loose” the series proclaims. Beam us up.

Jack Johnson, All The Light Above It Too []

MUSIC

Big releases on Sept. 8: Jack Johnson (All The Light Above It Too); The National (Sleep Well Beast).

Big Picture: U.S. President Donald Trump is not only haunting TV writers, he’s haunting our treasured songwriters, too. The National has always been like rock ‘n’ roll therapy, and frontman Matt Besser is a master rock ‘n’ roll therapist. The band’s seventh album focuses on a relationship — and world view — hanging in the balance. The instrumentation is a touch more electronic, but the lyrics are no less sad, melancholy and oddly cathartic. Besser is the thinking man’s rocker.

Largely contemplative with occasional, memorable outbursts, his deep voice permeates the band’s work as its own, unique instrument. The single, The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, references alienating politics in the U.S., but it’s catchy guitar rift is as radio-friendly as the National gets.

Meanwhile, Johnson unveils his first album since 2013, so you can double down on your mellow. The singer-guitarist also sheds a lyrical light on political failings and environmental issues.

Forecast: You may not sleep well, but the National’s new album is a beast worth hunting.

Honourable mention: Tori Amos (Native Invader). Speaking of meditative, the iconic singer-songwriter serves up her 15th studio album. The quirky song Reindeer King references both Jupiter and Scandinavia in the same refrain. Yup. Amos hasn’t changed one bit.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/pop-forecast-for-sept-5-home-again-it-the-deuce-and-more/feed0Reese Witherspoon in Home Againpostmedianews1The DeuceJack Johnson, All The Light Above It TooGlobal Voices: Indigenous men fight violence against womenhttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-indigenous-men-fight-violence-against-women
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-indigenous-men-fight-violence-against-women#respondTue, 05 Sep 2017 06:00:33 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765117]]>As the sun crested over the forest just outside of Fraser Lake in northern British Columbia, Raven Lacerte took out her knife.

Her father had just taken down a moose. Before he fired the shot, the two were deep in conversation and Lacerte’s thoughts lingered on their painful topic: Violence experienced by Indigenous women and girls.

While she field-dressed the animal, prepping the meat for a feast in her hometown of Victoria, her mind raced.

Her father had just attended a conference for Indigenous leaders on the crisis with 300 participants — only four of them were men.

“For a long time, it’s been only women in this conversation,” Lacerte says. “This let’s men off the hook.”

She decided to help hold men accountable. Getting a moose is a big honour, the 22-year-old member of the Carrier First Nations tells us, and provided an opportunity to appeal to men as warriors.

Lacerte and her sister tanned the moose hide and cut it into squares, which men now wear to signify they’re taking a stand against violence.

“We’re creating a space for men to say, ‘This is not OK.’ ”

Lorelei Williams, left, and Michelle Pineault at a Coalition on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls news conference on April 3, 2017. [The Canadian Press]

Lacerte has since handed out over 600,000 patches across Canada as part of the Moose Hide Campaign, distributing each for free with a handwritten note about being a strong warrior for good.

The patch is a public symbol meant to start conversation. The campaign itself is much more, with regular healing circles, marches on provincial legislatures and online resources for women who have experienced violence and men who want to end it.

When Lacerte started the campaign in 2011, there were growing calls from Indigenous leaders for a government inquest. Now, there are growing calls for its reset.

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is nearly halfway into its two-year mandate, and is plagued by resignations, accused of poor communication and general inertia in the face of the mounting crisis.

The one thing that everyone can agree on is that a lot of work remains. Grassroots responses like the Moose Hide Campaign are balms to the wound at the heart of the inquiry.

Desperate to solve open cases in the Winnipeg region, Drag the Red started in 2014 with volunteers walking along the Red River. Hundreds of volunteers work together each summer to search for evidence of missing Indigenous women that might bring closure to families.

“We need to work one hand in the soil, one hand in the stars,” she says of the bottom-up and top-down approaches needed.

HGTV star Drew Scott is tackling his most challenging piece of property yet: The dance floor. The Vancouver native is set to join the cast of Dancing With the Stars. Scott, who tracks down fixer-uppers for his identical twin brother Jonathan to renovate on the hit series Property Brothers, will be paired with pro dancer Emma Slater when DWTS returns for its 25th season on Sept. 18 (CTV/ABC). They’re the first pair to be announced, with the official word on the rest of the bedazzled cast set to be announced Sept. 6 on Good Morning America. Oakville, Ont., IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe was the last Canadian to compete in the dance-off, coming in second on the 23rd season last fall. The pressure’s on, Scott.

Paradise heats up

“You can’t keep this immigrant out,” quips Daniel Maguire upon joining Bachelor in Paradise this week. Yes, the summer reality series just got a little more Canadian. Sadly, that’s not a good thing. Maguire, a model from Vancouver, is known for telling it like it is in a very un-Canadian manner — like when he called fellow Paradise resident Lacey Mark “scraps” to her face before launching a misogynistic spiel about the uncoupled women on the show. Now that’s just low — even for Paradise. Host Chris Harrison’s post-show interview with Corinne Olympios was less disturbing — mainly because Olympios didn’t actually reveal anything new about the allegations of sexual misconduct between DeMario Jackson and herself. While Olympios admits she drank way too much while taking a medication that doesn’t mix well with alcohol and doesn’t remember a thing, we’re not sure what that means to her — just that she doesn’t “blame DeMario.” Uneasiness in Paradise, all around.

Family matters

Montreal brother and sister duo Adam and Andrea were the last team to reach the Pit Stop in Moose Jaw, Sask., on The Amazing Race Canada this week — but there’s no sibling rivalry here. “We’re a lot more alike than we think, that’s for sure,” said Adam. “She is so competitive; she just doesn’t quit, and doesn’t stop, I’m so proud of her.” Andrea’s response: “It’s awesome to have a bond like this. We’re a real team, older or younger, we’re such a team.” Plus, it was mostly a matter of luck, since the sibs were U-turned by rivals Korey and Ivana at The Dog River Hotel in Rouleau — the home of hit sitcom Corner Gas. Adam and Andrea had to go back and do a second Detour, which involved auctioning off horses — and clearly lost the bid. Up next: The final four teams “face their deepest fears” in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (Tuesday, CTV). A shot in the dark, but we’re thinking the challenge will involve rapids.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/reality-check-dancing-with-the-stars-bachelor-in-paradise-and-more/feed0Drew Scott, Emma SlaterlwardpostmediaVoyages great and small fill Silversea’s itinerarieshttp://o.canada.com/travel/voyages-great-and-small-fill-silverseas-itineraries
http://o.canada.com/travel/voyages-great-and-small-fill-silverseas-itineraries#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 21:56:25 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765161]]>It’s an exciting time for Silversea . The luxury line just took delivery of its newest ship, the 596-guest Silver Muse, earlier this year and is refitting its first ship as you read this into one of the world’s premier luxury expedition ships.

When she emerges from dry dock in November, the revitalized Silver Cloud Expedition will feature completely refitted suites and public areas, in addition to an ice-strengthened hull and a fleet of Zodiac rafts that will serve her well when the 1994-built ship sets sail on her maiden voyage to Antarctica from Buenos Aires on Nov. 15.

That’s the big news — and it definitely commands attention. But what I find equally noteworthy about Silversea is how many interesting itineraries the line has quietly slipped under the radar for the winter 2017-18 season. These range from short voyages — a great chance to get a taste of the “suite life” for anyone new to luxury cruises — to full-blown voyages of discovery that encircle continents.

In the latter category, Silversea recently announced it is sending its brand new flagship, Silver Muse, on an inaugural circumnavigation of South America early in the new year. The 69-day Grand Voyage will depart round trip Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 3, 2018 and have guests arrive at Brazil just in time for Rio’s legendary Carnival before heading completely around the Horn.

“Grand Voyage 2018 is perfectly tailored to travellers who have the time and passion to indulge in travel on a grand scale,” said Mark Conroy, Silversea’s managing director for the Americas. “It combines adventure and immersive cultural experiences with leisurely days wrapped in the exquisite luxury and impeccable service of our beautiful new Silver Muse.”

All told, guests aboard Silver Muse’s 2018 South American Grand Voyage will have the opportunity to visit 34 ports of call in 14 different countries. The line is also throwing in some nice perks for those who make the full journey, including a grand gala dinner and overnight stay at the Ritz-Carlton Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 2; a box-seat view of the Carnival Winners’ Parade at Rio’s Sambadrome; and on-board perks like complimentary internet access, on-board spending credits, and a travel visa service that’s available to Canadian and American guests.

If, like me, you’re a just a few days short of being able to take two and a half months off from work, you’ll be happy to know that Silversea also offers this voyage in nice bite-sized pieces, like the 10-day segment from Buenos Aires to Rio that departs on Feb. 6, 2018.

Silversea also has some hidden gems in store for the Caribbean season this winter. I like these short cruises because they tend to be a more affordable way for those who haven’t previously experienced a luxury cruise to give it a try. Fair warning, though: it’s hard to not fall head over heels for a cruise with a pillow menu with nine different choices, butler service, three types of toiletries on offer, and cuisine recognized by Relais & Châteaux and Slow Food.

I really like Silver Whisper’s Nov. 4 cruise from Hamilton, Bermuda, to St. John’s, Antigua. A seven-day segment of a much longer voyage, this cruise includes two relaxing days at sea (important on a line as soothing as Silversea), along with port calls in Philipsburg, St. Maarten and Gustavia, St. Barthelemy. The ship also stays docked in Hamilton for two days, allowing you to explore more of Bermuda.

If you want to take a fast, inexpensive Silversea cruise, hop on to Silver Whisper’s quick three-day voyage to Key West and the Bahamas’ Bimini Islands. It’s got everything that a regular Silversea cruise has, but at a price that’s easier on the wallet.

As for Silver Muse, a handful of suites are still available for her inaugural transatlantic crossing from England to Montreal on Sept. 12. If you can’t make the crossing, you can see her in person this fall if you’re in the Maritimes and Quebec. Silver Muse makes her maiden call on St. John’s, N.L. on Sept. 21; Sydney, N.S. (Sept. 23); Charlottetown (Sept. 24); Quebec City (Sept. 27) and Montreal (Sept. 28).

Happy cruising.

Portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/voyages-great-and-small-fill-silverseas-itineraries/feed0Silversea_Terrace.jpgaaronpsaundersCarnival cruises into Cubahttp://o.canada.com/travel/carnival-cruises-into-cuba
http://o.canada.com/travel/carnival-cruises-into-cuba#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 21:02:19 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765156]]>HAVANA, Cuba — Carnival Cruise Line began sailing to Cuba for the first time in its 45-year history back in June, with Carnival Paradise setting out from Tampa, Fla., to the historic city of Havana.

I hopped aboard the 2,052-guest ship for a five-day cruise to Havana and Key West. Carnival knocked this one out of the park, creating one of the most enjoyable and rewarding Caribbean cruises I’ve taken in a long time.

Sailing to Cuba aboard a ship owned by a U.S.-based company means you must comply with so-called People-to-People regulations totalling between seven and eight hours ashore (no, the beach doesn’t count). And I would highly recommend you take one of Carnival’s shore excursions, as they include cultural experiences you would be hard-pressed to replicate on your own.

In Havana, Carnival offers 13 diverse shore excursions that go as far away as Vinales (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), or as close as a walking tour of La Habana Veija, the historic city centre just steps from where Carnival Paradise ties up.

I indulged in the Local Flavors and Traditions of Havana, a tour that should have been 4 1/2 hours but lasted seven. Hey, this is Cuba — things run on Island Time here, too. I didn’t mind the three-hour difference; time flies by when you’re having fun.

In addition to visits to two local markets in Havana (including one dedicated solely to books in English and Spanish) and a photo stop at Revolution Square, we learned how to best indulge in three Cuban pastimes: cigars, coffee and rum.

I expected a tepid response to the cigars. Minutes later, the table of older retired women next to me had all lit up, puffing their cigars like actor George Burns used to do, pausing only to hammer back their Havana Club rum. Set to a soundtrack of live Cuban music within an open-air, colonial-era courtyard, the glory days of Cuba came alive again.

The real show-stopper, though, was a visit to Muraleando. Sixteen years ago, it was a run-down neighbourhood until volunteers turned a 1911-built water tank into a space for local artists, who painted the exteriors and interiors with colourful murals and, in the process, revitalized a neighbourhood. The Cuban government recognized it with an award in 2014. Today, teachers and artists donate their time for the benefit of the community.

This really was Havana off the beaten path. I’d love to see Carnival take this in-depth approach to its excursions in other parts of the Caribbean. The line even brought on local performers during our overnight stay in Havana.

The other surprise was just how much I enjoyed sailing aboard Carnival Paradise. Launched in 1998, the last of Carnival’s eight-ship strong Fantasy Class was ahead of its time. Along with numerous technical enhancements, she debuted as the world’s first purpose-built non-smoking ship. That program was discontinued in 2004, but Carnival Paradise still excels. She’s humanly sized, cosy and comfortable; a wonderful throwback to the way cruising used to be.

Her whimsical interiors pay homage to the great ocean liners of the past, with spaces like the Rotterdam Martini Bar, the Normandie Lounge and the Blue Riband Library, the latter a gorgeous room filled with memorabilia that might just be the best shipboard library in the Carnival fleet.

Carnival offers four-night cruises to Cuba on Sept. 7 and 21, Oct. 5 and 19, and May 3, 2018. My five-night itinerary to Havana and Key West will be repeated Sept. 25, and a five-night sailing to Havana and Cozumel departs Oct. 9

Carnival just announced five additional Cuba sailings from Tampa for 2018. Five-day cruises to Havana call on Key West or Cozumel (Feb. 17, July 2 and Sept. 5, 2018); while a special six-day cruise on Aug. 26, 2018 visits Havana and Grand Cayman. An eight-day voyage featuring two full days in Havana departs Aug. 18, 2018.

There’s also good news in store for Carnival Paradise: the 19-year- old ship is going through a month-long drydock in February 2018. The refit will add 98 new balcony staterooms, refresh all existing staterooms and suites, and add new FunShip 2.0 features like the BlueIguana Cantina and Guy’s Burger Joint.

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/carnival-cruises-into-cuba/feed00821 Ports Bowsaaronpsaunders10 high school movies and the fun lessons they teachhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/movies/10-high-school-movies-and-the-fun-lessons-they-teach
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/movies/10-high-school-movies-and-the-fun-lessons-they-teach#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 20:06:04 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765148]]>Ah, back to school. It’s such an exciting time of shiny shoes and crisp binders, and yet, the many unanswered questions — Will I have any friends? Will I make the basketball team? etc. — are enough to make any student anxious.

Luckily, Hollywood is here to help. Here are some pointers on surviving the hallways and beyond, as seen in the movies.

How to dress on the first day: Clueless (1995)

Mustard-yellow plaid blazer with matching kilt and vest? White thigh-high stockings? Hat resembling a lambshade? If you can check all of those boxes, you’re definitely set to put your best foot forward — assuming you’re wearing platforms, of course. At least, it worked for spoiled Beverly Hills rich girl Cher (Alicia Silverstone), and her posh posse (Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy), in the hit high school comedy Clueless.

How to make friends: Breakfast Club (1985)

Five teen stereotypes — the brain, the beauty, the jock, the rebel and the recluse — are thrown together for an all-day Saturday detention. At first, true to form, they torment and annoy each other. But eventually they surprise each other, learn to get past their self-made defences and see each other for more than the rigid roles they’ve been hiding behind. (But first they run around the school and smoke a little weed.)

How to pass a class: Billy Madison (1994)

So you’re not the sharpest pencil in the pack? You’d rather debate the merits of shampoo and conditioner than do actual work? Billy Madison (Adam Sandler), is your spirit animal. In order to prove to his dad that he can take over the family company, slacker Billy must pass grades 1 through 12 in record time. All he needs is some motivation: lavish parties for passing each grade, a love interest, and study sessions with a little tasteful stripping thrown in. (Also, watch out for any giant penguins out to kill you.)

Mean Girls [Paramount Pictures]

How to defeat a bully: Mean Girls (2004)

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. That’s the totally “fetch” manner in which high school newcomer Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan), takes on the evil Plastics clique and its queen bee Regina George (Rachel McAdams), in this witty comedy penned by Tina Fey. Sadly, her infiltration plan goes awry and lands her the title of school outcast. But several skimpy Christmas concert outfits, one giant all-girl brawl and an unfortunate school bus mishap later, she is able to restore peace in the hallways. Is that melted Plastics we smell?

How to skip school and get away with it: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

If you want to take a day off school in style, it helps if you have a foolproof plan that involves convincing your friend to borrow his dad’s prized Ferrari so you can drive your girlfriend to Chicago and sneak into a fancy restaurant. If you’re really lucky, you’d get to march in a parade.

How to make learning fun: School of Rock (2003)

Every school has at least one rebellious, free-spirited teacher. Here’s a tip: Find that teacher! Bonus points if they look like Jack Black, whose unemployed character turns a clan of prep school fourth-graders into a talented rock band in this surprisingly heartwarming comedy.

Heath Ledger, left, and Julia Stiles in 10 Things I Hate About You []

How to find love: 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)

No matter how antisocial, aggressive and acid-tongued you might be, there’s someone who’s just right for you. Really. In this teen take on The Taming of the Shrew, scary boy Patrick (Heath Ledger), agrees to date prickly gal Kat (Julia Stiles), for a tidy sum so Kat’s sister can finally find a boyfriend. Thing is, somewhere in the strategic manoevering and pretending, Patrick and Kat realize they’re in love. And they got there just by being true to themselves and not caring what anyone else thought about it. Well, Patrick’s adorably dorky dance to Can’t Take My Eyes Off You in the bleachers probably helped.

How to make the sports team: All the Right Moves (1983)

Tom Cruise portrays a determined high school footballer looking for a way out of his small town to a bigger, better life on a college campus. The best way to do that is with football scholarship, and that means hard work, practice, and then some more hard work and practice.

How to find your true self: Grease (1978)

You may think you belong in bobby socks and a poodle skirt, but maybe you’re more comfortable in leather tights and high heels. Who knew Olivia Newton-John had it in her!

How to order pizza to class, exit a swimming pool, stop a robbery with a pot of hot coffee: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)

There are so many valuable lessons to be learned from this classic teen romp.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/movies/10-high-school-movies-and-the-fun-lessons-they-teach/feed0The Breakfast Clubpostmedianews1Mean Girls10 Things I Hate About YouOdd Squad takes kids math shows to the next levelhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/odd-squad-takes-kids-math-shows-to-the-next-level
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/odd-squad-takes-kids-math-shows-to-the-next-level#respondFri, 01 Sep 2017 19:17:28 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765126]]>In a world … where people inexplicably disappear … and time-travel is a real thing … only one team can restore normalcy — well, as long as it doesn’t interfere with their bedtime. And that team is Odd Squad.

Odd Squad, as parents of five- to eight-year-olds likely know, is a team of pint-sized government agents who use math skills to investigate strange happenings in their town — like things mysteriously being covered in jam, or the mayor suddenly catching a case of the sing-a-longs.

The live-action TV show named for them is a staple on PBS and on TVO in Ontario, and for good reason. Since its debut in 2014, Odd Squad has aired more than 60 episodes and produced a big-screen movie. In April, it won five Daytime Emmys and will air a fresh batch of episodes this fall. (Online it’s available on tvokids.com and the TVOKids YouTube channel.)

That’s dead-serious achievement for something you might be tempted to write off as kids stuff.

“It’s a math show, and that was always the intent,” says co-creator Tim McKeon, who won a Writers Guild of Canada screenwriting award for his work on the series. “The challenge was, how do we make the most action-packed, funny, character-based math episodes?”

The struggle is real, especially when kids have smartphones and tablets, as well as video games and other shows, vying for their attention. Luckily McKeon had experience working on The West Wing — the hit show about the White House that earned 26 Emmy Awards — to draw on.

Millie Davis as Ms. O in Odd Squad [TVO]

“I was so low on the ladder. I was the guy who got coffee for the guy who got coffee. But our show is totally inspired by it because the characters do all these walk-and-talks, and we built a White House-inspired set,” says McKeon, who films the series in Toronto.

“We just wanted to make these kids look powerful. They’re important — it’s a kid-run organization. You don’t know where any of their parents are or what their home lives are like. They’re all wearing suits, business attire.”

The storytelling is also inspired by adult TV. While each episode works as a stand-alone, story arcs have revealed the backstory of the villain Odd Todd (Joshua Kilimnik). Plus, the agents take turns in the spotlight: Agents Olive (Dalila Bela) and Otto (Filip Geljo) rule season 1, while agents Olympia (Anna Cathcart) and Otis (Issac Kragten) shine in season 2. Ms. O (Millie Davis) is their stern overseer.

“I don’t think there should be any difference between a kids’ show and an adult show. There are ingredients for each episode: We have a wall of math and then a wall of odd things like invisibility, people floating and time travel. And then there’s a wall of character stories. It’s a procedural like CSI or Law & Order, and they can be solving a case. But you also have a workplace story, and a fun odd idea,” says McKeon.

“One of my favourite episodes is where they get trapped in a time loop — a puzzle episode. That’s different from going out into the world and solving someone’s odd problem or having a big character story, where two agents have never been in the field before and it’s up to them to save the day.”

“The challenge was, how do we make the most action-packed, funny, character-based math episodes?”

That embedded-learning approach — particularly when it comes to teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), concepts at early elementary levels — has proven popular with both parents and kids.

On Netflix, the live-action Project Mc2 follows a group of girls who work for a secret government organization that protects the world. It released its fourth season in February, and co-stars former Wonder Years actress Danica McKellar, who’s written a series of math books for girls.

Meanwhile Annedroids, a Canadian CGI/live-action blend, focuses on an 11-year-old girl, her friends and her three android creations. That show has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards.

The trend is noteworthy, especially with girls taking an active role in STEM-related storylines — women continue to be under-represented in STEM fields after university. According to a National Household Survey (NHS), women comprised just 39 per cent of grads with a STEM degree in 2011.

But for McKeon, whose favourite shows growing up included Greatest American Hero and Quantum Leap, STEM-centred children’s programming can just be great TV.

“There’s so much possibility in kids TV, and I think you can also do weirder stuff in kids TV. That’s always appealed to me,” says McKeon.

“And I also just love the kid fans — they’re way better than the adult fans. You get kids re-enacting your characters in little videos and stuff. When a kid does it it’s charming and wonderful. When an adult does it, it’s creepy.”

Odd Squad airs weekdays on PBS, and daily on TVO.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/odd-squad-takes-kids-math-shows-to-the-next-level/feed0Odd Squadmhank2012Odd SquadGlobal Voices: Entrepreneurs tackle challenges in Africahttp://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-entrepreneurs-tackle-challenges-in-africa
http://o.canada.com/life/global-voices-entrepreneurs-tackle-challenges-in-africa#respondTue, 29 Aug 2017 06:34:06 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765066]]>At any given moment, across Nigeria, more than 12 million gas-powered generators are running. They churn out megatons of greenhouse gas annually, and sometimes kill kill entire families with their fumes.

Nigeria’s undersized energy grid barely provides enough electricity for quarter of the nation’s 190 million citizens. Even then, it’s often just a few hours of power a day. Most Nigerians rely on small, gas-powered generators in homes and small businesses. Apart from environmental and health damage, fuel is an unwelcome cost in a country where the average yearly income is just US$3,596.

Ademola Adesina saw his country’s power problem as an opportunity.

Using a pay-as-you-go leasing model, Adesina’s start-up Rensource replaces gas generators with hybrid solar-battery systems. Zero emissions, and the monthly fee is less than the upkeep of a generator. Since launching this past February, Rensource has already installed 500 solar systems. The company plans to replace 500,000 gas generators with renewable energy over five years.

With African nations undergoing a business renaissance, Adesina represents the continent’s rising entrepreneurial class. He’s among those finding a profitable niche by taking on social and environmental challenges.

“It’s all that I see in Nigeria. The most viable and successful businesses target some sort of (social or environmental) impact,” says Adesina.

‘The most viable and successful businesses target some sort of (social or environmental) impact.’

These businesses aren’t learning about corporate social responsibility after they launch. “They’re doing it from the start because it makes the most business sense,” adds Eliot Pence, a Washington-based international investment advisor and founder of the Africa Expert Network, a collective of consultants for global companies wanting to do business in Africa.

Adesina and Pence both point to another prime example of Africa’s entrepreneurship working for social impact — Andela. This three-year-old firm has already built an international reputation for training young Nigerians, Kenyans and Ugandans in software development, then connecting participants with tech companies around the world. The business is creating job opportunities — especially for those from low-income backgrounds — and raising local wages while stemming the brain drain of skilled professionals fleeing the continent.

Mahmud Johnson founded a zero-waste palm fruit processing facility that uses every part of the palm plant to produce consumer goods, from cakes to skin care products. A valuable resource in his home country, Liberia, the business has increased incomes for small-scale palm farmers by 200 per cent.

African entrepreneurs have found their niche solving social problems for considerable profit.

Jennifer Shigoli, from Tanzania, won recognition for Elea, a company producing affordable and reusable sanitary pads. One in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa skip school during their periods because they cannot afford expensive disposable pads.

In Morocco, award winner Abdeladim Moumen invented a “molecular diagnostic kit” that allows rural clinics to quickly and inexpensively spot health issues like breast cancer and Hepatitis C. His new company Moldiag began producing kits this year, to sell across Africa.

African entrepreneurs have found their niche solving social problems for considerable profit, and to the benefit of their communities and their countries. This is the future of business. Entrepreneurs around in Canada — and around the world — should take note, or risk being left behind.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

Whether it’s a coal mine, a dysfunctional office or the highway, working has long been “celebrated” in song. In honour of Labour Day, here are some memorable takes on being a working-class hero.

Sixteen Tons: A No. 1 hit in 1955 for Tennessee Ernie Ford. “You load 16 tons, and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.” That doesn’t sound like a very good deal, does it? Written and originally recorded by Merle Travis in 1946.

Maggie’s Farm (Bob Dylan, 1965): Working-class frustration in four lines: “He hands you a nickel / He hands you a dime / He asks you with a grin if you’re having a good time / Then he fines you every time you slam the door.” I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s Farm no more, either.

Five O’Clock World (The Vogues, 1965): “Working so hard for the pay I get / Living on money that I ain’t made yet.” Ugh. Groceries on the Visa, anyone?

Working in a Coal Mine: This Allen Toussaint-penned epic was a hit for Lee Dorsey in 1966. Most people know it from Devo’s 1981 version, with the unforgettable deep-voiced refrain: “Lord! I am so tired! How long can this go on?”

A Day in the Life (The Beatles, 1967): Specifically, Paul McCartney’s bridge: “Found my coat and grabbed my hat / Made the bus in seconds flat.” A small victory in the rat race.

Salt of the Earth (The Rolling Stones, 1968): Mick Jagger and Keith Richards close the essential Beggar’s Banquet album with a toast to the unsung millions who drive the economy and get sh– done.

Working Class Hero (John Lennon, 1970): Lennon at his most cynical: “When they’ve tortured and scared you for twenty-odd years / Then they expect you to pick a career / When you can’t really function, you’re so full of fear.” Ouch.

Working Man (Rush, 1974): “I get up at seven, yeah / And I go to work at nine / I got no time for livin’ / Yes, I’m workin’ all the time.” Memories of working mornings as part of the puffy-eyed parade in line for a coffee, everyone trying to kick-start their day.

Car Wash (Rose Royce, 1976): Car Wash’s ridiculously catchy intro is frequently played at sporting events, but the whole song is a blast — who wouldn’t want to work there? To paraphrase: although you might not ever get rich, it is considerably better than digging a ditch.

Take This Job and Shove It (Johnny Paycheck, 1977): Written by David Allan Coe, the unambiguous title says it all, and speaks to all. Sung with conviction by Paycheck, and people believed him: It was a country chart-topper.

9 to 5 (Dolly Parton, 1980): No. 1 hit from the office dramedy movie of the same name, and a punchy ode to working-class resiliency. “You’re just a step on the boss-man’s ladder / But you got dreams he’ll never take away.” Instead of telling the “boss-man” to shove it, consider 9 to 5 a raising of your middle finger to him — wearing one of Dolly’s legendary acrylic nails.

Loverboy’s Mike Reno. The group’s Working for the Weekend has become an Everyman anthem. [Vancouver Sun]

Working for the Weekend (Loverboy, 1981): It’s not really about working, still — the idea behind the title is enough to evoke an exhausted groan.

Workin’ for a Livin’ (Huey Lewis & the News, 1982): An accurate theme for the hard-touring San Francisco band, whose hard work would pay off the following year with the international smash album Sports. Lewis re-recorded Workin’ for a Livin’ with Garth Brooks in 2007.

She Works Hard for the Money (Donna Summer, 1983): A chart-topping shout-out to working-class women, with an accompanying video that will inspire you leave bigger tips in cafés and restaurants.

Working on the Highway (Bruce Springsteen, 1984): “Working on the highway / Laying down the blacktop / Working on the highway / All day long I don’t stop / Working on the highway / Blasting through the bedrock.” Man, I’m tired just singing it.

Private Dancer (Tina Turner, 1984): Maybe an odd choice, but undoubtedly a working song. The Mark Knopfler-penned prostitute story is brought to life by Turner’s frank, jaded interpretation. “You keep your mind on the money / Keeping your eyes on the wall.” Heartbreaking.

Working Man (Rita MacNeil, 1988): A poignant tribute to the life of a coal miner, especially so when the Cape Bretoner performed it with the coal-miner chorus The Men of the Deeps.

There was a museum designed by Frank Gehry and a challenge involving craft beer, but this week’s leg of The Amazing Race Canada only sounds Canadian; it was actually set in Panama City. And there were only winners (including dating couple Sam and Paul, who landed a trip for two to New Orleans after finishing first), since it was a non-elimination leg. Edmonton couple Karen and Bert were most relieved by this news, since they arrived at the mat last after struggling with a Roadblock that involved memorizing the elaborate embroidery on a woman’s blouse. Can you blame them? Up next: The Race heads to Regina, “where a Detour has teams working against the grain,” according to a media release. Finally, a pun I’m not responsible for.

Simon gets soaked

Simon Cowell has always lacked a filter. Some of his comments are comedic, while others are just crude. His critique of an act on Tuesday’s episode of America’s Got Talent fell into the latter, but he didn’t target the performer (who suffered a technical mishap) so much as he did fellow judge Mel B. Cowell said the performance reminded him of Mel B’s wedding night, because it had a lot of anticipation but “not much promise or delivery.” A shocked Mel B stormed off the stage — but not before dumping a cup of water on Cowell. Mel B, for the record, filed for divorce from said husband, Stephen Belafonte, in March.

Raven Gates in Bachelor in Paradise [ABC]

It’s all about the fans

Bachelor Nation would be nothing without its fans (like, it wouldn’t exist), so The Bachelor Canada wants to reward them. Devoted franchise followers can enter a contest to win round trip airfare and accommodation in Toronto while they participate in a panel chat as a VIP audience member during the popular After Show. All they need to do is visit wnetwork.com before Nov. 3 and submit a video demonstrating why they are Canada’s biggest Bachelor SuperFan. Nine winners will be chosen. Montreal-born, Ontario-raised retired baseball player Chris Leroux, 33, will be The Bachelor when the series airs this fall on W Network.

Lost in Paradise

What is really happening on Bachelor in Paradise? Does anyone know? No, really. After two weeks of vacation, I was forced to skim through three episodes for a total of six hours of scantily clad drama (and you can imagine how many cocktails). Here’s what I pieced together: Raven likes Adam, Adam likes Sarah, Raven wants Sarah to like Ben, but what Ben likes most is talking about his dog. If this seaside series gets any more confusing, we might as well be watching Lost.

“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows,” Bob Dylan sang. But these days, a guide through the seemingly endless flurry of pop culture offerings is just what we need. With that in mind, here is what’s on the radar screen in TV, music and film for the coming week.

MOVIES

Big releases on Sept. 1: Animal Crackers; Tulip Fever.

Big picture: Well, I guess animators have finally run out of animals to anthropomorphize. Now they’re making animal crackers seem human. Literally. This cartoon stars the voices of John Krasinski, Ian McKellen, Emily Blunt and Sylvester Stallone. It’s all about a family gifted with a magical box of animal crackers they can use to save a rundown circus — by eating and, becoming, said animal crackers. Danny DeVito is a scene-stealer as a mildly creepy clown and keeper of the circus secrets. He’s like a PG version of Pennywise.

Meanwhile, the romantic period drama Tulip Fever is like Romeo and Juliet meets The Nature of Things meets Titanic meets The Affair. There are two kinds of people. (Those poised to unleash squeals of joy when reading that description, and those who feel ill.)

Set in Amsterdam in 1634, a married woman (Alicia Vikander), begins an affair with a portrait artist. The star-crossed lovers hatch a plan to leverage the booming market for tulip bulbs to raise money to start a new life together.

Forecast: I predict a new rash of cookie-based films. Get ready for Pixar’s Chocolate Chip Cookie, set on the surface of a cookie and where each chip has its own personality and dreams.

Narcos is set to debut Season 3 [Netflix]

TV

Big events: Narcos (Sept. 1, Netflix).

Big picture: Pablo Escobar is gone, and so is the actor (Wagner Moura), who deftly played him for seasons 1 and 2 of this international series. But cocaine cartels are like monarchies. There’s a succession. The day Pablo went down, the Cali cartel became public enemy No. 1. While Pablo was a charismatic, unpredictable thug, the show’s new top dogs in Colombia are described as “Cocaine incorporated” run “like a Fortune 500 company.”

Pedro Pascal (Game of Throne’s short-lived Oberyn Martell) returns as DEA agent Javier Pena, once again stuck in a deadly battle that forces him to commit more than a few evils to stop the bad guys. To take down the Cali cartel, you’d have to be “crazy, stupid brave and lucky all at the same time.” Best of luck, Javier.

Big picture: Breaking up is hard to do. After a five-year disband, LCD reunited this year to put out a fourth studio album. American Dream comes out as the U.S. seems to be living anything but. Maybe another dose of James Murphy and company’s addictive dance-rock is just what the continent needs. Rock, punk, disco, dance, funk and so forth, are once again tossed-and-mixed in the band’s musical cauldron.

Meanwhile, everyone has covered Bob Dylan, but Joan Osborne one-ups them with a track-for-track cover album of pop music’s greatest living bard. Listen as Osborne reinvents the likes of Highway 61 Revisited and Tangled Up in Blue.

Honourable mention: Motörhead (Under Cover). The venerable English rockers put out a cover album of diverse artists, including David Bowie, Metallica, Judas Priest, the Ramones, and two Stones’ songs: Jumpin Jack Flash and Sympathy for the Devil.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/pop-forecast-for-aug-28-animal-crackers-tulip-fever-and-more/feed0Animal Crackerspostmedianews1Narcos Season 3James Murphy of LCD SoundsystemCarnival immerses in a culturally rewarding Cuban experiencehttp://o.canada.com/travel/carnival-immerses-in-a-culturally-rewarding-cuban-experience
http://o.canada.com/travel/carnival-immerses-in-a-culturally-rewarding-cuban-experience#respondThu, 24 Aug 2017 18:35:45 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765060]]>HAVANA, Cuba — Carnival Cruise Line began sailing to Cuba for the first time in its 45-year history back in June, with Carnival Paradise setting out from Tampa, Fla., to the historic city of Havana.

I hopped aboard the 2,052-guest ship for a five-day cruise to Havana and Key West. Carnival knocked this one out of the park, creating one of the most enjoyable and rewarding Caribbean cruises I’ve taken in a long time.

Sailing to Cuba aboard a ship owned by a U.S.-based company means you must comply with so-called People-to-People regulations totalling between seven and eight hours ashore (no, the beach doesn’t count). And I would highly recommend you take one of Carnival’s shore excursions, as they include cultural experiences you would be hard-pressed to replicate on your own.

In Havana, Carnival offers 13 diverse shore excursions that go as far away as Vinales (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), or as close as a walking tour of La Habana Veija, the historic city centre just steps from where Carnival Paradise ties up.

I indulged in the Local Flavors and Traditions of Havana, a tour that should have been 4 1/2 hours but lasted seven. Hey, this is Cuba — things run on Island Time here, too. I didn’t mind the three-hour difference; time flies by when you’re having fun.

In addition to visits to two local markets in Havana (including one dedicated solely to books in English and Spanish) and a photo stop at Revolution Square, we learned how to best indulge in three Cuban pastimes: cigars, coffee and rum.

I expected a tepid response to the cigars. Minutes later, the table of older retired women next to me had all lit up, puffing their cigars like actor George Burns used to do, pausing only to hammer back their Havana Club rum. Set to a soundtrack of live Cuban music within an open-air, colonial-era courtyard, the glory days of Cuba came alive again.

The real show-stopper, though, was a visit to Muraleando. Sixteen years ago, it was a run-down neighbourhood until volunteers turned a 1911-built water tank into a space for local artists, who painted the exteriors and interiors with colourful murals and, in the process, revitalized a neighbourhood. The Cuban government recognized it with an award in 2014. Today, teachers and artists donate their time for the benefit of the community.

This really was Havana off the beaten path. I’d love to see Carnival take this in-depth approach to its excursions in other parts of the Caribbean. The line even brought on local performers during our overnight stay in Havana.

The other surprise was just how much I enjoyed sailing aboard Carnival Paradise. Launched in 1998, the last of Carnival’s eight-ship strong Fantasy Class was ahead of its time. Along with numerous technical enhancements, she debuted as the world’s first purpose-built non-smoking ship. That program was discontinued in 2004, but Carnival Paradise still excels. She’s humanly sized, cosy and comfortable; a wonderful throwback to the way cruising used to be.

Her whimsical interiors pay homage to the great ocean liners of the past, with spaces like the Rotterdam Martini Bar, the Normandie Lounge and the Blue Riband Library, the latter a gorgeous room filled with memorabilia that might just be the best shipboard library in the Carnival fleet.

Carnival offers four-night cruises to Cuba on Sept. 7 and 21, Oct. 5 and 19, and May 3, 2018. My five-night itinerary to Havana and Key West will be repeated Sept. 25, and a five-night sailing to Havana and Cozumel departs Oct. 9

Carnival just announced five additional Cuba sailings from Tampa for 2018. Five-day cruises to Havana call on Key West or Cozumel (Feb. 17, July 2 and Sept. 5, 2018); while a special six-day cruise on Aug. 26, 2018 visits Havana and Grand Cayman. An eight-day voyage featuring two full days in Havana departs Aug. 18, 2018.

There’s also good news in store for Carnival Paradise: the 19-year- old ship is going through a month-long drydock in February 2018. The refit will add 98 new balcony staterooms, refresh all existing staterooms and suites, and add new FunShip 2.0 features like the BlueIguana Cantina and Guy’s Burger Joint.

A growing number of young people are cobbling together contract work, side jobs and short-term employment as university degrees no longer guarantee jobs. When young people do find work, more than a quarter are underemployed.

A still-slumping economy has put mounting pressure in the job market. Despite this trend, the pressing search for young people isn’t just for a paycheque, but for meaning. One study found that more than half of millennials would take a pay cut for a job that aligns with their personal values.

When Katherine Laliberte graduated from law school, she achieved what many in her program considered “the be-all and end-all,” she says: articling at a major firm in litigation and corporate law.

After years of expensive tuition and countless hours in the library, the 30-year-old felt external pressures from her peers to seek big returns on her big investment. But she wasn’t fighting for justice or advancing causes she cared about.

Many young people in search of a job after graduating want to earn more than just a paycheque; they want one with meaning [Getty Images]

She quit and started a notary business to help clients navigate the legal system, cornering the market in Toronto’s west end, while looking for a way to give back. That quickly led to pro bono work helping transgender people change their names and get official documents to reflect their personal identity.

Helping her first trans client “live the way she wants to (…) was the most rewarding part,” recalls Laliberte. “I saw how appreciated it was, even though it was a tiny gesture.”

From there, paying and non-paying clients started streaming in as her business — and her impact — continued to thrive. She has plans to expand through subcontractors to offer pro bono services for other clients in need.

Laliberte is not alone in this growing trend.

A structural engineer from Stouffville, Ont., 39-year-old Luke Anderson left his big firm behind after a mountain biking accident confined the athlete to an assisted mobility device. He uses his engineering skills to help create a barrier-free world with the StopGap Foundation, a non-profit that installs ramps to expand accessibility in the Toronto area.

Just a generation ago, most workers counted down the hours to clock out of a job with little personal satisfaction.

At 25, Shannon Lee Simmons took a break from the rat race as an investment manager to start the Barter Babes Project, skills-sharing her financial expertise with young entrepreneurial women. Since then, she’s launched her own financial planning practice, gearing her services to young people and women.

Law school, an engineering degree and a career in financial services still hold allure for many. But as Canada produces more professionals than ever — with fewer jobs to go round — entrepreneurs are carving their own path, finding niche jobs that solve social problems.

Just a generation ago, most workers counted down the hours to clock out of a job with little personal satisfaction. Now resourceful young people are putting their skills towards their passion, not just a paycheque.

Craig and Marc Kielburger are the co-founders of the WE movement, which includes WE Charity, ME to WE Social Enterprise and WE Day. For more dispatches from WE, check out WE Stories.

Big picture: Leap! is Frozen meets Oliver Twist meets So You Think You Can Dance meets Amelie meets The Goonies. (It must have been a hell of a Hollywood pitch meeting). Two cute orphan runaways head to Paris to follow their dreams — feisty redhead Felicie (voiced by Elle Fanning) and the young inventor Victor (Dane DeHaan). Félicie must pretend to be the child of an elite family to sneak in to a prestigious ballet school. There were no maybes involved; Canada’s own Carly Rae Jepsen got the call to voice the orphan dancer’s unlikely mentor, a mysterious school custodian.

Meanwhile, Polaroid is The Ring meets Final Destination meets Needful Things. It also makes me ponder the endless supply of stupid people in horror-movie scripts. How many people can possibly react like this? “Wow! Look at the creepy, goosebump inducing item that I just discovered in this dusty, old box (attic/basement etc.)? Gosh golly, I think I’ll keep it!”

In Polaroid, a millennial working at an antique shop (oh Tinseltown, such creative screenwriters!) finds a vintage Polaroid camera that knocks off the people it captures in stills — and is probably inhabited by the spirit of a serial killer.

Forecast: I assume the idea of an “ancient” pre-digital camera alone — minus the evil spirit — will be enough to terrorize the minds of this film’s young audience. Not having to be selective about your photographs, develop photos and no selfie sticks … the horror, the horror.

Lakeith Stanfield and Nat Wolff in the Netflix film Death Note [Netflix]

Big picture: It’s not even close to Halloween yet, but it appears to be a good week for demonic forces. Death Note is big budget Netflix original. The adaptation of a Japanese manga is essentially Hellraiser meets Pan’s Labyrinth meets Aladdin. A high school slacker inherits a book (it literally falls from the sky) that summons the powers of an ancient death god — a beasty with the teeth of a piranha, the body of porcupine and glowing orange eyes.

Basically, whoever’s name is written in the creature’s book winds up gonzo. What starts as a grand exercise in taking out bad guys and “making the world a better place” rapidly gets out of hand (as all such plans usually do).

Meanwhile, Disjointed (starring Kathy Bates) is a new sitcom from Chuck Lorre. It’s like Cheers meets Weeds as it follows the staff and clientele of a cannabis dispensary.

Forecast: Death Note will be well received by genre fans. However, am I the only one who misses a good old-fashioned genie? Three wishes? Maybe a few wisecracks. Then it’s all over. A built-in check on absolute power.

Big picture: I’ve always liked Iron & Wine because the band is named after two of my favourite things. Their new album plays against title, scaling back the group’s epic sonic affairs down to their softer, finer points. In other words, expect many stripped-down ballads.

Meanwhile, Josh Homme and company get kinda political on Queens of the Stone Age’s seventh album. Nevertheless, they’re still ready to rock, and they even bring a bit of the funk. The band’s single The Evil Has Landed was released on Aug. 10, oddly prescient given the headlines that began that week south of the border.

Forecast: Hail to the Queens. They’re ready to hard rock the nearest arena or the nearest iPod. Villains begone!

Honourable mention: The War on Drugs (Up all Night). Fun social experiment. Plan a party and invite fans of this Philly band, and supporters of the real War on Drugs. Enjoy.

]]>http://o.canada.com/news/pop-forecast-for-aug-21-leap-polaroid-and-more/feed0Leap!postmedianews1Lakeith Stanfield and Nat Wolff in the Netflix film Death NoteJosh Homme of Queens of The Stone AgeSailing in laid-back style through Montenegro, Indonesiahttp://o.canada.com/travel/sailing-in-laid-back-style-through-montenegro-indonesia
http://o.canada.com/travel/sailing-in-laid-back-style-through-montenegro-indonesia#respondWed, 16 Aug 2017 22:27:07 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=765015]]>I became enamoured with G Adventures earlier this year, when I sailed down India’s Ganges River with the Toronto-based company. It was a spectacular, culturally enriching tour undertaken with a small group of like-minded travellers, all at a price that didn’t break the bank. G Adventures has long offered a wide assortment of high-value tours by land, but you might not be aware of just how many kinds of adventures it offers on the oceans and rivers of the world.

G Adventures offers small-ship, small-group adventure cruises around the world. They’re the kind of trip that appeals, readily, to those who wouldn’t normally identify themselves as “cruisers.” To be sure, these are not big ships by any stretch. The company’s laid-back sailing tours are operated on small catamarans, power boats and sail boats, each of which typically holds between eight and 14 guests.

Now, G Adventures has just introduced a ‘first-of-its-kind’ sailing adventure along the coast of Montenegro, as well as a brand new sailing voyage through Indonesia. These two new itineraries join the company’s portfolio of sailing voyages that travel to the British Virgin Islands, Croatia, Cuba, Greece and Thailand.

In Montenegro, G Adventures’ new Montenegro Sailing trip will depart round-trip from Dubrovnik, Croatia aboard an eight-guest sailing ship. Over the course of eight days, guests will traverse the Dalmatian coast, visiting UNESCO World Heritage sites, small fishing villages, and the regional nightlife capital of Budva — which just happens to be 2,500 years old. The company tells me its 2017 departures sold out fast, but that 2018 sailings operating between May and September still have availability.

Over in Indonesia, a larger, 12-guest catamaran will depart round-trip from Bali. This week-long sailing adventure explores the coast of Bali and Lombok and offers the opportunity to explore the Gili Islands, as well as the chance to indulge in a wealth of snorkelling and kayaking tours, visits to beachfront bars, and yoga sessions. Or, pretty much exactly what you think of when you picture an idyllic sailing trip around Southeast Asia.

These Indonesian itineraries operate until November of this year, and resume again in June 2018. There’s still some availability on this run for fall departures, and pricing is particularly good in October and November.

Pricing for the Montenegro sailing starts at $1,599 per person, while the Indonesia sailings are going from $1,999 per person. All prices are, naturally, subject to change and will vary depending on sailing date and availability.

According to G Adventures’ global sailing manager, Vince Donnelly, sailing trips are the ideal vacation choice for travellers as they offer the opportunity to do as much — or as little — as you want.

“Some travellers are keen to learn the ins and outs of sailing from our team of experienced skippers, whereas others are happy to relax and watch the world go by, before arriving to their next port of call or barely inhabited island,” says Donnelly. “While we sell a set itinerary, it’s up to the skipper and the group if they fancy taking a detour to a special island off the beaten track for a picnic on the beach, which is what makes G Adventures’ sailing tours so popular.”

Some things to consider with these runs: airfare is an extra purchase, and sailboat accommodations are small and more basic than your traditional cruise ship. G Adventures does a great job of managing expectations with its dedicated Marine: Expedition Cruising & Sailing Adventures brochure, which has deck plans of its sailing ships, along with plenty of photographs, features, staterooms, and need-to-know itinerary information.

In addition to the company’s small-ship sailing adventures around the world, G Adventures also offers a full program of river cruises on the canals of France, India’s Ganges River, the Mekong River through Vietnam and Cambodia, and along the fabled Amazon River. As well, the company is providing small-ship voyages that traverse the Galápagos Islands, with different price-points and classes of service on each vessel.

On the more expensive end of the scale, you also set out on full-fledged expedition cruises with G Adventures, aboard the 134-guest Expedition. You’ll find the distinctive red-hulled ship cruising the Arctic, Antarctic, and South America, accompanied by a knowledgeable team of expedition staff.

Happy cruising.

Portsandbows.com, sponsored by Expedia CruiseShipCenters, 1-800-707-7327, www.cruiseshipcenters.com, for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Aaron Saunders may be contacted directly at portsandbowsaaron@gmail.com

]]>http://o.canada.com/travel/sailing-in-laid-back-style-through-montenegro-indonesia/feed0Ports and Bows March 25aaronpsaunders